Isotactic Polypropylene (iPP) is a widely used polymer due to its excellent mechanical and thermal properties, as well as its chemical resistance. The crystallization behavior of polypropylene is influenced by several factors, such as temperature, cooling rate, and pressure. The effect of pressure is significant for both scientific and technological points of view, since in important industrial processing techniques the polymer solidifies under high pressures. In this paper, the study of the effect of pressure on the crystallization kinetics of iPP was conducted using a dilatometer in the pressure range from 100 to 600 bar and under two cooling rates: 0.1 and 1 °C/s. The morphology of the samples was characterized using DSC, optical microscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The results showed that pressure had a larger effect on specific volume changes at higher temperatures (in the melt state) than at lower temperatures (in the solid state). The polymer crystallization, which determined the transition between the melt and solid state, occurred at higher temperatures with increasing pressure. The cooling rate affected the crystallization process, with higher cooling rates leading to crystallization at lower temperatures. The size of the spherulites decreased with increasing cooling rates. The crystallinity evolution curves showed a linear relationship between the crystallization temperature and pressure. The study used a Kolmogoroff–Avrami–Evans model to describe the evolution into isotropic structures, and the predictions of the model accurately described the effect of pressure and cooling rates on the final spherulite radii.

Micro-injection molding (µIM) is a widespread process for the production of plastic parts with at least one dimension, or feature, in the microscale (conventionally below 500 µm). Despite injection molding being recognized as a robust process for obtaining parts with high geometry accuracy, one last occurrence remains a challenge in micro-injection molding, especially when junctions are present on the parts: the so-called weld lines. As weld lines are crucial in determining mechanical part performances, it is mandatory to clarify weld line position and characteristics, especially at the industrial scale during mold design, to limit failure causes. Many works deal with weld lines and their dependence on processing parameters for conventional injection molding, but only a few works focus on the weld line in µIM. This work examines the influence of mold temperature on the weld line position and strength by both experimental and simulation approaches in µIM. At mold temperatures below 100 °C, only short shots were obtained in the chosen cavity. At increased mold temperatures, weld lines show up to a 40% decrease in the whole length, and the overall tensile modulus doubles. This finding can be attributed to the reduction of the orientation at the weld line location favored by high mold temperatures. Moldflow simulations consistently reproduce the main features of the process, weld line position and length. The discrepancy between experimental and simulated results was attributed to the fact that crystallization in flow conditions was not accounted for in the model.

It is generally recognized that high-temperature treatments, namely annealing, influence the microstructure and the morphology, which, in turn, determine the mechanical properties of polymeric parts. Therefore, annealing can be adopted to control the mechanical performance of the molded parts. This work aims to assess the effect of annealing on the morphology developed in isotactic polypropylene (iPP) injection-molded parts. In particular, a two-step annealing is adopted: the polymer is injected in a mold at a high temperature (413 or 433 K), which is kept for 5 min (first annealing step); afterward, the mold temperature is cooled down at 403 K and held at that temperature for a time compatible with the crystallization half-time at that temperature (second annealing step). The characterization of morphology is carried out by optical and electronic scanning microscopy. The temperature of the first annealing step does not influence the thickness of the fibrillar skin layer; however, such a layer is thinner than that found in the molded parts obtained without any annealing steps. The second annealing step does not influence the thickness of the fibrillar skin layer. The dimension of spherulites found in the core is strongly influenced by both annealing steps: the spherulite dimensions enlarge by the effect of annealing steps. A model that considers spherulite and fibril evolutions is adopted to describe the effect of molding conditions on the final morphology distribution along the part thickness. The model, which adopts as input the thermo-mechanical histories calculated by commercial software for injection molding simulation, consistently predicts the main effects of the molding conditions on the morphology distributions.

A more sustainable use of plastic parts makes it necessary to replace current plastic parts with recyclable components, also allowing the modulation of the part properties through the process. Injection molding is one of the most widely used technologies for obtaining rigid plastic parts, so it is crucial to understand how to tailor properties by adopting the correct processing conditions. One way is to perform annealing steps directly inside the mold: in-mold annealing improves the structural integrity and durability of the material, reduces defects, increases the resistance of parts against certain chemicals, reduces wear and tear, increases ductility, and lowers brittleness. In this work, several in-mold annealing steps were conducted, changing the mold temperature and annealing duration selected on the basis of the half crystallization time of the adopted isotactic polypropylene. The typical molded part morphology, composed of oriented layers at the surface, transition zones, and spherulitic core, is strongly affected by in-mold annealing. In particular, the thickness of the oriented layer, which forms in the early phase of the process, decreases, and the spherulites increase in size. Concerning mechanical behavior, the orientation degree mostly determines the elastic modulus value close to the surface, whereas the conditions under which crystallization occurs determine the modulus in the core.

A part made of just one material (mono‐material) is a new frontier in reducing environmental impact of plastic, being 100% recyclable. The focus of this work is on the possibility of controlling the properties of parts obtained by microinjection molding (μIM). μIM tests in variothermal conditions are conducted on an isotactic polypropylene. Two variothermal steps are adopted: the filling and packing stages are conducted at one selected mold temperature, and subsequent annealing steps are conducted while the sample is still inside the mold. A comparison with the parts produced under constant mold temperature is also performed. Electronic microscopy is adopted for the characterization of morphology. Furthermore, atomic force microscopy coupled with HarmoniX (HMX) tool allows detecting simultaneously local morphology and mechanical properties. The part morphology is characterized by a fibrillar layer close to the sample walls and a spherulitic core; a transition zone is also detectable in between. Morphology significantly influences mechanical properties: the transition zone shows the minimum value of elastic modulus, additionally, the elastic modulus increases with spherulite dimensions. Eventually, the annealing step results to be crucial in determining the part properties and can be adopted as a robust method to tailor properties through the process.

An accurate prediction of the final properties of injection-molded semi-crystalline parts requires models that capture crystallization kinetics during processing. This work presents two practical strategies to incorporate experimentally derived crystallization behaviors into Autodesk Moldflow, addressing cases where kinetics differ from the software’s native Avrami–Hoffman–Lauritzen formulation. We apply these methods to isotactic polypropylene (iPP T30G) displaying heterogeneous nucleation with a low-temperature plateau, and to polyoxymethylene (POM) exhibiting combined heterogeneous and homogeneous nucleation. The parameters for Moldflow were obtained by matching isothermal half-crystallization times (t_0.5) and by tuning flow-induced nucleation terms. Validation against isothermal and non-isothermal injection tests shows agreement between calculated and expected crystallinity evolution and reproduces measured spherulite diameters.