Facilitating transcrystallization of polypropylene/glass fiber composites by imposed shear during injection molding

The transcrystal plays an important role in the enhancement of mechanical and thermal performances for polymer/glass fiber composites. Shear has been found to be a very effective way for the formation of transcrystal. Our purpose of this study was to explore the possibility to obtain the transcrystal in real processing such as injection molding. We will report our recent efforts on exploring the development of microstructure of polypropylene (PP)/glass fiber composite from skin to core in the injection-molded bars obtained by so-called dynamic packing injection molding which imposed oscillatory shear on the melt during solidification stage. A clear-cut shear-facilitated transcrystallization of PP on glass fibers was observed in the injection-molding bar for the first time. We suggested that shear could facilitate the transcrystalline growth through significantly improving the fiber orientation and the interfacial adhesion between fiber and matrix.