A Study on the Mechanical Properties and Shrinkage of Thermoplastic Elastomer

Thermoplastic elastomer(TPE) can be recycled and molded such as commercial thermoplastic. Therefore TPE has being widely applied on automobile, household and etc. in these days. This study shows the variation of mechanical properties and shrinkage on TPE moldings for variation of injection molding conditions such as injection pressure, holding pressure, melt temperature, mold temperature and etc. Mechanical properties in relation to tensile strength, hardness and shrinkage in connection with precision dimension of part are investigated. The tensile strength and shrinkage of the experimental TPEs are mainly influenced by injection pressure and melt temperature. All injection molding conditions scarcely affect on hardness. To verify the variation of tensile strength and shrinkage, morphology of TPE molding was scanned by the SEM. The morphology showed that as the melt temperature increased, the rubber particles on the TPE became smaller and widely were dispersed. This behavior of rubber particles influenced on the increase of tensile strength.