Effect of temperature on weldline integrity of injection moulded short glass fibre and glass bead filled ABS hybrids

The present study investigated the effect of temperature on weldline strength of injection moulded ABS polymer reinforced with both short glass fibres (GF) and spherical glass beads (GB) over the temperature range 25 to 100 °C. It was noted that weld and non-weld tensile strength of ABS/GF/GB hybrids increased as the concentration of total glass in the hybrids increased. A linear increase in both weld and non-weld tensile strength was found with increasing the hybrid ratio of the glass fibre, χ. Results indicated that weld and non-weld tensile strength for the hybrid at a given temperature can be estimated from the rule of hybrid mixtures. Weld and non-weld tensile strength of the hybrid system decreased with increasing temperature in a linear manner. The rate at which weld and non-weld tensile strengths decreased with temperature was dependent upon the hybrid ratio of the glass fibre, χ, and the total concentration of glass in the hybrids. Weldline integrity factor for the hybrids decreased non-linearly with increasing χ, but increased linearly with increasing temperature.