Abstract: Separation of particular material components of highly filled polymer based composites during high-shear technologies as injection molding is often the factor limiting quality of the final products. This is even more severe for parts produced via powder injection molding (PIM), where a polymeric component is thermally or chemically extracted after injection molding, and remaining porous structure is sintered so as to obtain purely metal or ceramic item. A considerable portion of final parts do not meet the quality requirements due to the unacceptable surface quality resulting from the separation of feedstock components. The aim of the research is to evaluate the resulting surface of the parts with a contactless CLA scanner with a First Interface Detection testing mode, which allows the quantification of the surface defects found. Then, the tendency to separation as a function of material composition and/or processing parameters is considered to provide an approach including the factors responsible for surface quality to the simulation of flow properties during molding. Thus, the scanning electron microscopy analysis of particular cross sections of molded parts is combined with energy dispersive X-ray analysis, and rheological testing of steady-state as well as viscoelastic properties.

Brief biography of the speaker:
Berenika Hausnerova PhD is a full professor in technology of macromolecular compounds at the Centre of Polymer Systems, Tomas Bata University in Zlin, Czech Republic. Her area of expertise is rheology of highly filled polymers used in powder injection moulding, where she published 40 papers in impacted journals and 80 conference papers, and (co)supervised more than 20 projects. Her work has been acknowledged with “Werner von Siemens Excellence Award” (1999) and stipend „For Women in Science” by L'Oréal, UNICEF and Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (2006). She is a member of The Society of Rheology (since 1996), Society of Plastics Engineers (since 2001) and European Powder Metallurgy Association (since 2007). She served as an organizer and/or chairman at several international events (e.g. The Polymer Processing Society Meetings in Zlin 2004, Gothenburg 2007, Larnaca 2009).