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CHAPTER 8

EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS

8.1 APPARATUS

Ultrasonic welding was carried out using a conventional ultrasonic

plastic welding machine (1500W, 20 kHz) manufactured by M/s National
Indosonic (Figure 8.1). Each unit contains a power supply and a built–in
microprocessor with control and monitoring functions. The normal force is
applied by a pneumatic cylinder, by compressed air at a pressure of 1 to 4 bar.
The maximum ultrasonic power used in this study is 1500 watts. The
piezoelectric transducer is made of lead zirconate titanate elements which are
held under compressive stress by means of two titanium end pieces. In this
setup amplitude variations were not possible due to machine constraints. The

experiments.

Figure 8.1 Ultrasonic plastic welder

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The power supply contains the electronic controls for welding and
actuator cycling. The unit has a number of controls and indicators allowing
the user to select parameters that control the weld. The unit provides visible
and audible indications on the front panel. The panel provides a quick and
accurate control over the critical welding variables: time, energy and weld
pressure. In these experiments, the static pressure was applied using
pneumatic pressure.

In ultrasonic plastic welding the parts to be welded are clamped

between the welding horn and welding fixture (Figure 8.2). The welding horn
vibrates vertical to the interface of the two parts and after a certain time a joint
is formed. Figure 8.3 shows the aluminum fixture which was used to hold the
parts during welding. The fixture was bolted to the base plate of the ultrasonic
welder.

Figure 8.2 Horn, fixture and base plate -ultrasonic plastic welder
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Figure 8.3 Fixture used for ultrasonic welding

Stepped horn made of aluminum-titanium alloy was used for this

study. The horns (Figure 8.4) used for welding had diameters of 28mm and
30mm for near field and far field welding respectively.

Near field Far field

Figure 8.4 Horn used for near field and far field welding
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8.2 MATERIAL AND SPECIMEN PREPARATION

The specimens used in this work were made of Acrylonitride-

Butadiene-Styrene (ABS) and High Density Polyethylene (HDPE). The
mechanical, physical and thermal properties of the two materials are given in
Table 8.1.

Table 8.1 Properties of the thermoplastics used

Coefficient Loss
Specific Maximum
of Thermal Density Melting modulus
heat Tensile
Material conductivity point (E”)
(c ) strength
(k) kg/m3 o
C GPa
o
J/kg C MPa
w/moC
ABS 0.15 1181 2000 90 0.42 60
HDPE 0.43 997 1500 135 0.52 29

Three monomers, acrylonitride, butadiene, and styrene are used to

produce ABS. ABS materials combine the properties of the individual
monomers and have strength, stiffness and toughness superior to many other
plastics. So they are often considered in the category of engineering plastics.
ABS materials can be described as rugged and tough plastics. The ultrasonic
energy is easily transmitted through this type of structure. High density
polyethylene (HDPE) is one of most widely used thermoplastic materials. It
has a density in the range 935-2000 kg/m3. It can be described as a flexible,
tough, semi-crystalline polymer.

Specimens were made of ABS and HDPE as per the specification

of DVS-test parts (also known as the ZVEI or Philips-test parts), which can be
used in near-field and far field welding with an energy director or with shear
joints. Specimens with different joint designs (triangular energy director
semicircular energy director and shear joint) were made by injection molding.
Figure 8.5 shows the welded and un-welded specimens.
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(a) (b) (c)

Figure 8.5 Unwelded and Welded Standard Specimens (a) Unwelded

(b) Shear Joint (c) Energy Director Joint

8.3 INITIAL EXPERIMENTS

Initial experiments were carried out to obtain an acceptable range

of parameters to achieve a good joint.

From the literature survey working ranges of processes parameters

(weld time, weld pressure, and hold time) were found out for amorphous and
semi-crystalline thermoplastics. Materials evaluated were ABS (amorphous)
and HDPE (semi-crystalline). The ranges for each parameter are shown in the
Table 8.2.
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Table 8.2 The ranges of critical welding parameters

Parameters Working range

Weld Pressure 2-5 Bars
Weld Time 0.2-1.0 sec
Hold Time 0.5-2.5 sec

Initial experiments were conducted in this range to get the suitable

values of each parameter (maximum tensile strength) in far field and near
field configurations for both types of thermoplastics (Tables 8.3 and 8.4).

Table 8.3 Values of welding parameters for ABS

Parameters Near Field Far Field

Weld Pressure 3 Bar 3 Bar
Weld Time 0.3 seconds 0.8 seconds
Hold Time 1.0 seconds 1.0 seconds

Table 8.4 Values of welding parameters for HDPE

Parameters Near Field

Weld Pressure 3Bar
Weld Time 0.8 seconds
Hold Time 1.0 seconds
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8.4 TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT

The temperatures at different points of the standard specimen

(standardized sample which was developed by Nedulandse Philips –
Figure 8.6) were measured in real time using a data acquisition system. The
data acquisition system includes sensors (thermocouple), terminal block, data
acquisition (DAQ) card and analyzing software. The block diagram of data
acquisition system is shown in the Figure 8.7.

Figure 8.6 Standard specimen used for experimental work with

thermocouple positions

Thermocouple Terminal Box DAQ Card Labview

Type K (SWG 36) Signal (TBX 68 T) NI 4351 (Software)
(Transducer) (Signal conditioning)

Figure 8.7 Data acquisition system

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All the temperatures were measured using SWG 36 Alumel–

Cromel (type K) thermocouples positioned at different points on the specimen
(Figure 8.6). The thermocouple signal was fed into a terminal block
(TBX 68 T) and then to DAQ card (NI 4351). The experimental setup is
shown in the Figure 8.8. A programme made for measurement of temperature
(multi channel) in LabView (Figure 8.9(a) and 8.9(b)), was used to get the
temperature variation during welding.

Figure 8.8 Experimental setup for temperature measurement.

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Figure 8.9(a) Labview programme for temperature measurement-front

panel

Figure 8.9(b) Labview programme for temperature measurement -block

diagram
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The national instruments NI 4351 DAQ card is precision computer

–based digitizer designed specially for high-accuracy temperature
measurements (thermocouples, RTDs, thermistors), resistance measurements,
chromatography measurements and for low-frequency analog signals within
±15V. The instruments feature ±0.42 oC thermocouple accuracy, ±0.12oC RTD
accuracy, ±0.03oC thermistor accuracy. The NI 4351 instruments combine the
functionality of stand-alone temperature and voltage meters and
chromatographs with flexibility. As with all the computer–based digitizers,
the NI 4351 can easily integrate into internet applications. The NI 4351 series
have 16 differential analog inputs.

8.5 MECHANICAL TENSILE TEST

A ZWICK 1484 tensile tester was used to measure the strengths of

the welded joints. This machine consists of a load frame with a moving cross
head, computer controlled two vertical drive screws, and a PC for the data
acquisition and calculations. The specimen to be tested is physically attached
to the load cell by grips for tensile testing and to the cross head. Tensile forces
are then applied by the moving cross head. The load cell measures the load,
which is recorded by PC. Test procedures according to ASTM standard D638-
97 (Standard Test Method for Tensile properties of plastics) were used. The
deformation rate used in the testing was 50mm per minute. The joint fracture
strength was measured as the indicator of weld strength.

8.6 DSC MEASUREMENTS

Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) is a convenient and

accurate equipment for performing thermal analysis on a wide variety of
materials. DSC instruments are widely used for thermal characterization of
polymers. For practical applications the interest is mostly focused on the glass
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transition temperature, melting range and heat of fusion, curing behavior and
decomposition of the material. Most of DSCs are also used to determine the
specific heat of the material of the specimen. DSC measures the temperatures
and heat flow associated with transitions in materials as a function of time and
temperature. The technique provides qualitative and quantitative information
about physical and chemical changes that involve endothermic or exothermic
processes or changes in heat capacity using minimal amounts of sample. It
has many advantages including fast analysis time (typically thirty minutes),
easy sample preparation, applicability to both liquids and solids, a wide range
of temperature applicability and excellent quantitative capability. There are
two types of DSC instruments currently used; 'heat flux' and 'power
compensation' instruments. Although they are fundamentally different in
design, the data produced are comparable.

In this work DSC measurements were performed with constant heat

flux DSC (Pyris). The samples analyzed were ABS and HDPE for welded and
unwelded conditions. The samples were heated twice at a heating rate of
20oC/min from room temperature to 200oC for HDPE and from room
temperature to 440 oC for ABS. Between the two heating segments, a
controlled cooling at 20 oC/min was applied. The sample weights were 6.5 mg
for HDPE and6.7 mg for ABS. The samples were contained in aluminum pans
with pierced lids. The atmosphere was nitrogen with a flow rate of 20 ml/min.
The heat flow rate curves are prepared from these experiments.

8.7 SEM ANALYSIS

SEM analysis was conducted on welded ABS and HDPE

specimens. Jeol JSM-840A machine was used for this analysis. The
instrument of this type operates not only in the high vacuum mode but also in
a diluted water vapor atmosphere. It is necessary to cover the surface of the
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thermoplastic sample with a thin electrically conductive layer by sputtering or

evaporation before the observation of the sample. Ultrasonic welding process
results in a wide range of heating and cooling rates of the welds and the heat
affected zone. The photographs obtained from SEM studies under suitable
magnifications are used to interpret the area near the weld qualitatively. The
SEM micrograph of unwelded specimen did not reveal any changes in terms
of colour or appearance of special zones.Therefore, they are not shown. The
region away from HAZ as in figure 10.13 is an example for the SEM
micrograph of an unwelded specimen.