PLEXIGLAS ® Acrylic Resin Processing Manual
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PLEXIGLAS® ACRYLIC RESIN Processing Manual TABLE OF CONTENTS 03 HEALTH AND SAFETY 11 INJECTION MOLDING 25 EXTRUSION 04 Combustible Dust 12 Equipment 26 Equipment 04 Vapor Control During Clamp Tonnage Barrel and Screw Melt Processing Equipment/Screw Design Screw Design 04 Grounding and Bonding Nozzle Tips/Extensions Static Mixers 04 Safety Data Sheets 13 Mold Design Breaker Plates and Screens Sprues Melt Pumps Cavity and Runner Layout Drive Horsepower Cavity Support Dies 06 MATERIAL HANDLING Runners Profile Design Three-Plate and Hot Runner Molds Take-off, Cooling, and Systems 07 Contamination Gating Pressure Control Different Gate Designs 07 Drying 32 Processing Tunnel or Submarine Gates 07 Conveying Drying Conveying Blowers and Air Filters Degating Start-up Procedures Vacuum Transfer Systems Polishing Typical Processing Conditions Distributor Boxes Draft and Radius Die Temperatures Star Valves Venting Melt Temperatures Pellet Loaders Dimensional Tolerance and Pellet Handling Flex Lines Mold Shrinkage Shutdown Procedures 09 Silos Humidity Correction 35 Extrusion Troubleshooting Guide Silo Accessories Coring Silo Dryers Ejection Cyclones Ribs Silo Vents Physical Attachment and Silo Level Indicators Welding Features 36 THERMOFORMING Screw Bosses 10 Regrind Snap-fits 37 Heating Thermal/Mechanical Welding Uniform Heating 21 Processing Cooling Computer Analysis Data 39 Thermoforming Purging/Material Changeover Troubleshooting Guide Typical Processing Conditions Shot Size Back Pressure Injection Pressure FINISHING 40 OPERATIONS Screw Speed Injection Speed Cycle Time 41 Annealing Shutdown/Standby Procedures Selecting an Optimal 24 Injection Molding Annealing Cycle Troubleshooting Guide 42 Fabricating and Bonding Thermal/Mechanical Welding Ultrasonic Welding 43 Chemical Resistance PLEXIGLAS.COM | 800.523.1532 02 HEALTH AND SAFETY HEALTH AND SAFETY PLEXIGLAS.COM | 800.523.1532 03 HEALTH AND SAFETY COMBUSTIBLE DUST residual monomer, additives, decomposition products, and other components. Always ensure that considerations for flammable vapors Acrylic dust, as with most polymeric dusts, can accumulate and are included in the design of processing and safety equipment as coat the walls of conveying systems and may be combustible. well as in your operating procedures. Copper wire or conductive bars must be placed across every gasket or mechanical joint in the system to ensure proper mechanical GROUNDING AND BONDING grounding. The copper wires and bars should be uninsulated so that any broken wire or grounding connections are clearly visible. Ensure thorough grounding and bonding throughout all pellet handling systems, including copper wires or grounding bars across Follow industry safety best practices, including those described in every gasket, flange, and mechanical joint. The copper wires and the following references: bars should be uninsulated so that any broken wire or grounding connections are clearly visible. Refer to Figures 1 and 2 for examples. • NFPA 652, Standard on Fundamentals of Combustible Dust • NFPA 654, Standard on Fundamentals of Combustible Dust The maximum resistance to ground from any component of the system Explosions from the Manufacturing, Processing, and Handling should have a total resistance of less than five ohms. This should drain of Combustible Particulate Solids off any static electricity, or potential to create a spark. Be certain to individually ground each component (silos, roots blower, motor, etc.) • NFPA 68, Standard on Explosion Protection by and ensure that all individual parts of the conveying and storage Deflagration Venting system are bonded to each other by conductive materials. See • NFPA 69, Standard on Explosion Prevention Systems Figure 3. • OSHA 29 CFR 1910.22 (a) Housekeeping, Allowable Ground all bulk load trucks or railcars before loading or unloading. Dust Accumulations VAPOR CONTROL DURING SAFETY DATA SHEETS MELT PROCESSING Please consult the safety data sheet for all materials before handling, Melt processing of any polymer material, including Plexiglas® resin, processing, or storing them. The current SDS for all Plexiglas® resin has the potential to generate flammable vapors, which may include products can be found in the SDS Section of Plexiglas.com. Figure 1: Morris Coupling PLEXIGLAS.COM | 800.523.1532 04 HEALTH AND SAFETY Figure 2: Flanged Joint Figure 3: Grounding and Bonding PLEXIGLAS.COM | 800.523.1532 05 MATERIAL HANDLING MATERIAL HANDLING PLEXIGLAS.COM | 800.523.1532 06 MATERIAL HANDLING Careful resin handling is vital for keeping visual rejects to a appropriate cycle may depend on the thermal characteristics of minimum. Good housekeeping and proper system design, the grade being analyzed. We recommend that moisture readings coupled with good filtration of the air used for conveying be taken only after the equipment cycles at least 10 minutes, to the resin, is critical to the production of a quality finished ensure that moisture inside the pellet has adequate time to diffuse product. This section outlines basic guidelines for building to the pellet surface and escape. If using a standard lab oven to and operating a resin handling system that will keep the dry pellets for moisture measurement, we recommend a minimum resin clean and minimize fines. of four hours at 100 °C, although shorter times may be permissible in a vacuum oven. CONTAMINATION Use dehumidified or desiccant drying systems for the best possible The excellent color, clarity, and cleanliness of Plexiglas® acrylic resins drying performance. We recommend dew points in these systems can be jeopardized with poor material handling. of -29 °C to -40 °C [-20 °F to -40 °F]. Dew points above -18 °C [0 °F] are unsatisfactory. We recommend a minimum drying time of Plexiglas® acrylic resins are sealed in heavy-gauge, moisture- four hours for Plexiglas® resins. For thick part molding, including light resistant, polyethylene-lined drums or cartons. Slit the liner with guides, keep drying times to a maximum of eight hours for optimal a knife to open; tearing the liner may cause contamination with optical and color performance. Recommended drying temperatures polyethylene particles. When loading hoppers, wipe the lid of the are listed below: container clean to avoid contamination. Keep the drum or carton covered during the run to prevent dust and dirt from contaminating TABLE 1: RECOMMENDED DRYING TEMPERATURES the contents of the container. Always reseal containers when not FOR PLEXIGLAS® RESINS in use. Disassemble and clean hopper loaders before loading if ® previously used for a different color or anything other than acrylic Plexiglas Resin Grade Dryer Temp resin. Similarly, vacuum and wipe down hoppers before use. A HT121-LPL® 100 °C [200 °F] small amount of polystyrene or other plastic resins can contaminate an entire hopper load. Also note that even residuals from other V825, V825T, V826, HT121, V045 88 °C [190 °F] transparent resins can cause visual defects when mixed with V045i, V052i, DR®, MI7, MI7T 82 °C [180 °F] Plexiglas® resin. V920, VM, HFI7, HFI10, SG7 77 °C [170 °F] Always check dryers for blowing fines and stray particles to VS, SG10 66 °C [150 °F] avoid contamination. DRYING TABLE 2: MOISTURE LEVEL TARGET Absorbed moisture in Plexiglas® molding resins does not affect the Standard Applications ≤ 0.05% final physical properties of molded parts, except where excessive Less Sensitive Applications or ® ≤ 0.10% moisture levels cause porosity/voids. Plexiglas acrylic resins are Very Well Vented Extruders packaged in specially constructed containers at low moisture levels and can frequently be used with minimal drying. However, excessive CONVEYING moisture can cause surface defects or bubbles in thick parts. These surface defects are sometimes referred to as splash, splay, or Conveying Blowers and Air Filters silver streak and can be eliminated by drying the resin in warm air Rotary lobe blowers (also known as “Roots” blowers) work well circulating ovens, vacuum dryers, or hopper dryers. If drying trays for dilute phase (higher volume/higher velocity) transfer. For dilute are used, apply a layer of molding resin no more than one inch phase transfer systems, use higher/denser pellet loading, as this will deep. Maintain moisture levels of no more than 0.05% or less for minimize pellet degradation and dust generation. Be careful not to demanding jobs. Less sensitive applications may tolerate as much overload the transfer system and plug the transfer lines. as 0.1% moisture. Keep the air used to convey the pellets free from contamination. Commercially available moisture analyzers are generally suitable We recommend two particulate filters, and multi-stage filtration is for checking moisture levels in Plexiglas® resin, including loss-in- essential for critical applications. Multi-stage filtration systems consist weight and calcium hydride method analyzers. Ensure that the testing of progressively finer filters, ideally ending with a HEPA filter (99.97% cycle used is specifically designed for acrylic resins. Note that the removal of particles at 0.3 microns). PLEXIGLAS.COM | 800.523.1532 07 MATERIAL HANDLING Vacuum Transfer Systems Figure 4: Pipe Bends Piping and conveying lines for vacuum transfer systems should also be constructed of stainless steel. Avoid aluminum, galvanized steel, and glass because they can be abraded by acrylic pellets, resulting in contamination of molded parts. Use long-radius bends, with a bend radius at least ten times the pipe diameter, to reduce the likelihood of abrasion and to improve conveying