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Knitted Fabric Reinforced Thermoplastic in Thermoforming Zi Wang Lehigh University

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Knitted Fabric Reinforced Thermoplastic in Thermoforming Zi Wang Lehigh University Lehigh University Lehigh Preserve Theses and Dissertations 2011 Knitted fabric reinforced thermoplastic in thermoforming Zi Wang Lehigh University Follow this and additional works at: http://preserve.lehigh.edu/etd Recommended Citation Wang, Zi, "Knitted fabric reinforced thermoplastic in thermoforming" (2011). Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1232. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Lehigh Preserve. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Lehigh Preserve. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Knitted Fabric Reinforced Thermoplastic in Thermoforming by Zi Wang A Thesis Presented to the Graduate and Research Committee of Lehigh University in Candidacy for the Degree of Master of Science In Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics Lehigh University May 2011 This thesis is accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Science. ______________________ Date: April 20th,2011 ___________________________ Thesis Advisor: Herman F. Nied ____________________________________ Chairperson of Department: D. Gary Harlow ii Acknowledgement I would like to thank Dr. Herman F. Nied for his generous help and guidance firstly. He could always find time talk to me no matter how busy he was. As my researching advisor, his funding support and not blocking me from doing other part-time jobs truly gave me big relieve financially and made me focusing on the research while testing the water of my career. He is also a mentor outside academic world. It is my honor to be his student. Then I would like to thank Dr. Burak Bekisli for showing me how to use apparatus in this research. His previous research and precious experiences on this topic paved the way for me. His willingness to watch my further experimental result showed his enthusiastic to this topic as well even though he moved on to other research. And it is my honor working with two fantastic peers, Johann Pancrace and Jeremy Payne. I also want to give the credit to Department of Mechanical Engineering & Mechanics and Zoellner Art Center. The faculty and staff here treated me like family and their kindness I shall never forget. National Science Foundation and Department of Mechanical Engineering & Mechanics of Lehigh University partially provided the financial support for this study and they are gratefully acknowledged as well. Finally, without the love and support of my family and my girlfriend, I would never stand a chance to be here to pursue my dream. They are my pillars of strength. This thesis will be dedicated to my family and the people helped me to come this far. iii Contents Acknowledgement .......................................................................................................................... iii Contents .......................................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures .................................................................................................................................. vi List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. viii Abstract ............................................................................................................................................ 1 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 2 1.1. Review of knitted fabric reinforced thermoplastic ............................................................... 2 1.2. Objective of this study .......................................................................................................... 4 1.3. Organization of this thesis .................................................................................................... 4 2. Introduction of thermoforming ................................................................................................... 6 2.1. Brief history ........................................................................................................................... 6 2.2. Industry and market .............................................................................................................. 6 2.3. Process .................................................................................................................................. 7 2.4. Components .......................................................................................................................... 7 3. Thermoplastic sheet................................................................................................................... 13 3.1. Thermoplastic materials ..................................................................................................... 13 3.2. Thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) ........................................................................................... 14 3.3. Sheet making....................................................................................................................... 15 iv 4. Knitted fabric.............................................................................................................................. 20 4.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 20 4.2. Deformation mechanism of woven and knitted fabrics ..................................................... 23 5. Knitted fabric reinforcement ..................................................................................................... 27 5.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 27 5.2. Experiment process and results .......................................................................................... 28 5.3. Thermoforming optimization .............................................................................................. 32 5.4. Current and potential applications ..................................................................................... 41 6. Conclusions and future prospects.............................................................................................. 43 6.1. Conclusions ......................................................................................................................... 43 6.2. Future prospects ................................................................................................................. 44 Appendix I PEBAX .......................................................................................................................... 46 Appendix II Glass Fiber .................................................................................................................. 47 Appendix III Mold Drawings .......................................................................................................... 49 Appendix IV Compression Molding User Manual ......................................................................... 50 Appendix V Knitting Machine User Manual .................................................................................. 54 References ..................................................................................................................................... 65 VITA ................................................................................................................................................ 67 v List of Figures Figure 1 Deep draw forming ............................................................................................................ 2 Figure 2 V-shape specimens ............................................................................................................ 3 Figure 3 Clamping system ................................................................................................................ 8 Figure 4 Heater layout for ZMD-223 ................................................................................................ 9 Figure 5 Match die schematic ........................................................................................................ 10 Figure 6 Female and male mold ..................................................................................................... 11 Figure 7 Tetrahedron MTP-14 compression molding machine ..................................................... 18 Figure 8 Tensile test results on pure polymer ............................................................................... 19 Figure 9 Woven fabrics .................................................................................................................. 20 Figure 10 Knitted fabrics ................................................................................................................ 21 Figure 11 Knitting schematic .......................................................................................................... 22 Figure 12 SK -840 knitting machine ............................................................................................... 23 Figure 13 Deformation comparison of woven fabrics and knitted fabrics .................................... 23 Figure 14 Uniaxial tensile tests on knitted fabric .......................................................................... 25 Figure 15 Tensile tests results .......................................................................................................
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