Templateguided Selfassembly of Conductive Plastic in an Electric Field during Injection Molding Facu

1
Template-guided Self-assembly of Conductive
Plastic in an Electric Field during Injection
Molding Faculty Mentor Dr. Carol Barry,
University of Massachusetts LowellRET
Participants Jim Megyesy (Wilmington High
School), Paul Chanley (Northern Essex Community
College), Ryan Hoffman (North Reading High
School), and Jessica Quinn (Revere High School)

Figure 1. Template-controlled self-assembly of
polymer blends in high-rate processing.
Figure 2. Injection molding process.
Conclusions A blend of filled polystyrene and
polypropylene was injection molded using
experimental tooling. At 1 carbon black-filled
polystyrene (30w carbon black) in polypropylene,
phase separation was not visually detectable
because molded parts were entirely black. Since
the viscosities of polypropylene and polystyrene
matched over a wide range of shear rates, the
filled polystyrene was probably not encapsulating
the polypropylene. This suggests that use of
more virgin polystyrene in the polystyrene/polypro
pylene blend may permit the carbon black to
remain with the polystyrene phase rather than
migrating to the polypropylene phase. Embedding
copper wire into machined grooves in Teflon
surface prevented polymer melt from surrounding
and dislodging the wires from insulating sheet.
Use of a Teflon cover sheet with circular cutout
prevented the wires from short circuiting to the
A-plate of the steel mold. A design was
presented to modify the injection mold to accept
current-carrying wire. The design will soon be
submitted to the mold maker.
References 1. www.dow.com 2. www.europe.polyone.co
m 3. www.geplastics.com/gep/en/Home/Home/home.html
4. www.pslc.ws/macrog/index.htm 5.
www.matweb.com 6. Ohm, Robert F. (1990) The
Vanderbilt Rubber Handbook Thirteenth Edition.
Norwalk, CT R.T. Vanderbilt Company, Inc.
Acknowledgements Mukul Atre (Graduate Student),
University of Massachusetts Lowell Esteban
Caraballoso (Undergraduate Researcher), City
College of New York Lady Jimenez
(Characterization Specialist), University of
Massachusetts Lowell Jun S. Lee (Post-doctoral
Researcher), University of Massachusetts
Lowell Dan Murphy (Graduate Student), University
of Massachusetts Lowell Rina Ordonez
(Characterization Specialist), University of
Massachusetts Lowell Scott Slabough (Graduate
Student), University of Massachusetts Lowell Ming
Wei (Post-doctoral Researcher), University of
Massachusetts Lowell Scott Winroth (Graduate
Student), University of Massachusetts
Lowell Sung-hwan Yoon (Post-doctoral Researcher),
University of Massachusetts Lowell
Research Experiences for Teachers at Northeastern
UniversityClaire Duggan, Program Director