The present study investigated the influence of temperature on molecular interdiffusion at the interface during the laser transmission welding of 3D-printed continuous carbon-fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites. In order to accurately measure the temperature at the weld interface, a series of thermocouples were embedded in the laser-absorbent composite part. Two different molecular interdiffusion models were implemented to calculate the degree of healing and to predict the effects of temperature on the welding process. The degree of healing and the weld line width were computed and compared with microscopy observations. The discrepancy between the two proposed numerical models was less than . Both models showed good agreement with the experimental data, with an average error of and , respectively. The results revealed a significant correlation between the thermal history and molecular interdiffusion at the interface. Furthermore, the relationship between the welding parameters (laser beam scanning speed) and weld line width was established. The findings of this study provide a comprehensive understanding of the underlying mechanisms involved in the laser welding of 3D-printed composites and offer insights to optimize the welding process for enhanced weld quality and superior mechanical properties in the final product.
6 October 2023 in International Journal of Material Forming
Nowadays, injection stretch blow molding (ISBM) process represents the most employed technology to produce plastic bottles. An important step of this process is the heat conditioning stage which is performed within infrared ovens by the use of powerful halogen lamps. Homogenizing the temperature distribution along and inside the preform at the end of this conditioning stage is one of the key parameters to determine the final quality of the bottle (thickness, mechanical properties, transparency...). In this research work, a numerical software has been developed to simulate recycled PET (rPET) preforms infrared heating inside the industrial ISBM ovens, where both rotation and translation of the preform across different heating modules occur. In addition, the presence of a fan system involving a forced convective condition inside the ovens is also considered using a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) approach instead of using a conventional heat transfer coefficient.