The value of melt flow index testing polymer solutions. Melt flow index is a measure of the resistance to flow viscosity of the polymer melt at a. Consequently, flow properties are important product characteristics that affect not only processability but physical properties as well. The extrusion plastometer is a simple form of capillary rheometer, which is commonly used to compare different grades of the. The mass of resin, in grams, that is extruded in 10 minutes equals the mfr, expressed in units of g10 min. The method is described in the standards astm d1238 and iso 13. The mp1200 is a superior, advanced, melt indexing system that is available in either manual or motorized configurations and features a new three zone band heater with three controllers that result in. The instron melt flow testers are specifically designed for easy and accurate measuring of the melt massflow rate mfr and the melt volumeflow rate mvr.
The instrument and traditional procedure for mfr determination are defined in the iso 13. Sales, quality and technology is absolutely leading position in china. Melt flow index is an assessment of average molecular mass and is an inverse measure of the melt viscosity. In polyolefin processes the melt flow index mfi is the most important control variable indicating product quality.
Melt flow indexer manual and motorized mp1200 from tinius. It provides a means of measuring flow of a melted material which can be used to differentiate grades as with polyethylene, or. The operating procedure is simple to undertake using its onboard advanced microprocessor technology. Melt flow index ema 4161c physical properties of polymers melt flow index laboratory purpose. Meltflowindex ema 4161c physical properties of polymers. More than just a quality control rheological parameter. D 1238 04 standard test method for melt flow rates of thermoplastics by extrusion plastometer1 this standard is issued under the. Ceast melt flow testers range from systems that perform a simple manual test procedure to semiautomated testing systems performing multiple weight tests.
Some products such as plastic pendulum impact test machine total of 16 styels, melt flow indexer total of 18 styles, high temperature oilfree hdt and vicat testing machine and other products. Influence of polymer melting point and melt flow index on. Standard test method for melt flow rates of thermoplastics by. Note 2this test method and iso 131991 are technically equivalent. Rheograms for engineering thermoplastics from melt flow index. Influence of polymer melting point and melt flow index on the performance of ethylenevinylacetate modified bitumen for reducedtemperature application.
Iso 131991 determination of the meltmass flow rate. Astm d1238 standard test method for melt flow rates of thermoplastics by extrusion plastometer. The mfr test quantifies the mass of thermoplastic resin that is extruded by an extrusion plastometer over a fixed time period specified as the mass in grams that would be extruded in 10 minutes under prescribed temperature and mechanical load conditions. It is designed to make melt flow rate testing faster, more accurate and flexible, and generate more rheological information. Procedure b is generally used with materials having melt flow rates from 0. Melt flow rates of thermoplastics by extrusion plastometer1 this standard is issued under the. Astm d1238 04 standard test method for melt flow rates. The afrt automatically allows the flow rate to be measured and is suitable for flow rates between 0. Depending upon the resulting flow rate, a slightly shorter 30 second or longer cut 2 minute may be substituted for the normal 1 minute cut. Automatic melt cutting and barell cleaning accessories are. This presentation is designed to be an informative introduction and guide to melt flow test, and to assist with troubleshooting inconsistencies in results.
The mfi is a determination of the flow ability of thermoplastic materials. Standard test method for melt flow rates of thermoplastics by extrusion. Melt flow test equipment for sale with extended warranty. The melt flow index obtaining accurate and relevant results. The 6mpca is the most advanced model offered within the rayran range of melt flow indexers. Some instruments can also calculate the shear rate, shear stress, and viscosity in. Aug 23, 2011 the mfi test is used widely among the various segments of the plastics industry. A useful measure of the shear stressshear rate relationship can be made by measuring the samples mfrmvr at the standard and at the higher load. The volume is converted to a mass measurement by multiplying the result by the melt density value for the material see note 2.
The 4601 melt flow indexer is an affordable and easytouse tabletop instrument that tests the melt flow resistance mfr of a wide range of thermoplastics. The melt flow index mfi or melt flow rate mfr is a measure for the ease of flow of melted plastics. The sample can be in the form of virgin resin pellets or ground material from a finished thermoplastic product. The test procedure is similar to procedure b, but prescribed conditions of. Information and translations of melt flow index in the most comprehensive dictionary definitions resource on the web. This value is also commonly called the melt index, mi, or meltflow index, mfi. Determination of the melt flow index of plasticized polymer material by using plastometer mflow zwickroell.
Astmd1238 standard test method for melt flow rates of. The heart of the system is a 32 bit microprocessor developed by dynisco polymer test systems. Weigh the extrudate and multiply by the appropriate factor to obtain the standard gms10 minute melt flow value. Melt flow rate measures the rate of extrusion of thermoplastics through an orifice at a prescribed temperature and load. The operating procedure is simple to undertake using its onboard advanced microprocessor.
Pdf determining the melt flow index of polypropylene. The melt flow index is a measure of the ease of flow of the melt of a thermoplastic polymer. Use of melt flow rate test in reliability study of. Samples of 510 mg were always subjected to the following testing procedure. Repeat the entire procedure 3 times and average the results. It is generally used as an alternative to procedure b on samples having melt flow rates greater than 75 g10 min. Note 1roundrobin testing indicates this test method may be suitable at flow rates up to 1500 g10 min if the timing clock resolves the elapsed time to the nearest 0. The bore of the extrusion plastometer the uniformity of the flow rate of the. Melt flow index, melt flow rate, astm d1238, iso 13.
The melting property of thermoplastic material can be checked by equipment called a melt flow tester fig. The tester conforms to all national and international melt flow resistance standards, including bs en iso 13 and astm d1238. Melt flow system advanced the 6mpca is the most advanced model offered within the rayran range of melt flow indexers. Astm d1238 standard test method for melt flow rates. Oct 20, 2015 the melt flow index is a measure of the ease of flow of the melt of a thermoplastic polymer. Mfr and the melt volume flow rate mvr of thermoplastics3 3. Melt flow rate mfr is a value obtained when a product is tested on an extrusion plastometer. In the present work, a method has been proposed to estimate the rheograms of a melt at temperatures relevant to its processing conditions with the use of a master curve, knowing the melt flow index and glass transition temperature of the material. Because of the difficulty in the online measurement of mfi, a large number of mfi estimation and correlation methods have been proposed. Investigation of melt flow index and impact strength of. Oct 15, 2010 in polyolefin processes the melt flow index mfi is the most important control variable indicating product quality. Melt flow index mfi measuring instruments and test equipment. The melt flow indexer is an affordable tabletop instrument that tests the melt flow resistance mfr of a wide range of thermoplastics.
A number in parentheses indicates the year of last. The melt flow index mfi is the measure of how many grams of polymer pass through a standardized capillary under a standard load over 10 minutes. To familiarize the student with the operation of an extrusion plastometer, and demonstrate the relationship between the melt flow index mfi and molar mass. A procedure which could unify a number of these variables and yet provide an adequate estimate of the flow behaviour during processing, i s undoubtedly. Procedure b requires that the melt density either be known or calculated using the calculate option in the embedded software. Polymer processors usually correlate the value of mfi with the. The melt flow index mfi, also known as the melt flow rate mfr, of a resin is a materials property test used in the plastics industry. Procedure b is an automatically timed flow rate measurement used for materials having flows from.
Both melt flow and rheology tests can be very helpful tools for qc monitoring and development of polymers. Melt flow index mfi is defined as the measure of the ease of melt flow of thermoplastic material in gram over the course of 10 min at a certain standard temperature ie, 230c. It is found that the mfi and impact strength of rotomoulded product increases as the foam percentage increases up to 6%. Melt flow index tester mfi tester manufacturers, exporters and suppliers. The melt flow index mfi, also known as the melt flow rate mfr, determines the melt flow properties measured in g10 min of a material at a specific shear stress related to applied load and temperature. Melt flow indexer qualifi 6000 series astm d1238, iso 13. Standard test method for flow rates for polyvinyl chloride with molecular structural implications1 this standard is issued under the. Standard test method for melt flow rates of thermoplastics. Standard test method for melt flow rates of thermoplastics by extrusion plastometer1 this standard is issued under the. Note 4older plastometers that were manufactured in accordance. Qualifi 6000 melt flow indexer series can be used for testing mfr and mvr of polycarbonate, fluoroplastics, as well as polyethylene, polypropylene, abs, pom, etc and is related to the melted material viscosity. Rotational moulding is one of the fastest growing polymer processes when. Polyox watersoluble resins melt flow test procedure.
Details of the software products used to create this pdf file can be found in the. Measuring mass flow rate mfr and other polymer properties. The afrt automatically allows the flow rate to be measured and. Weigh the extrudate and multiply by the appropriate factor to obtain the standard gms10 minute meltflow value.
Instron manufactures tensile, compression, fatigue, impact, rheology, and structural testing machines, testing a variety of materials and range of applications. The instron ceast mf50 multiweight melt flow tester performs melt flow rate melt index tests according to mfr and mvr. The test measures the melt flow properties of resins in g10 min at a particular shear stress related to applied load and temperature. Amls range of melt flow index mfi measuring instruments and test equipment. The only flow parameter available to the processor is the melt flow index of the material. Astm d1238 04 standard test method for melt flow rates of. This value is also commonly called the melt index, mi, or melt flow index, mfi. Melt flow rates of thermoplastics by extrusion plastometer1. Procedure c is an automatically timed measurement used to determine the melt flow rate mfr of polyolefin materials. The difficulty is that any two labs can easily come up with different results, making it difficult to determine whether a material meets a desired mfi spec. Some instruments can also calculate the shear rate, shear stress, and viscosity in centipoise. In this work, mechanical predicting methods such as partial least squares pls method and support vector regression svr method are. The melt flow index mfi is a measure of the ease of flow of the melt of a thermoplastic.
The melt flow rate mfr, originally called melt flow index or melt index, is a measure of the ease of flow of the melt of a thermoplastic polymer. Iso standard 131 governs the procedure for measurement of the melt flow rate. The value obtained through the melt flow index test is a single data point. It is often used in the plastic industry for quality control of thermoplastics. The melt flow index mfi is a measure of the ease of flow of the melt of a thermoplastic polymer. Tutorial on using instron melt flow tester to iso 13 and astm d1238 duration. Compacting and purging functions can be supported by the unique load cell feature. A number in parentheses indicates the year of last reapproval. Provision is made for calculation of melt volumeflow rate as well as melt massflow rate. Pdf standard test method for melt flow rates of thermoplastics. May 14, 2016 melt flow index tester mfi tester manufacturers, exporters and suppliers. The melt flow rate apparatus has been designed in accordance with iso 13 and astm d1238.
Melt flow rate mfr, also known as melt flow index mfi or melt index mi the melt flow rate mfr, originally called melt flow index or melt index, is a measure of the ease of flow of the melt of a thermoplastic polymer. Both offer a manual means procedure a or method a and automatic timedflow measurement. Mfi melt flow index measuring instruments and test equipment. It is defined as the mass of polymer, in grams, flowing in ten minutes through a capillary of a specific diameter and length by a pressure applied via prescribed alternative gravimetric weights for alternative prescribed temperatures. Use of melt flow rate test in reliability study of thermoplastic encapsulation. The melt flow index only tests the material at one shear stress, and temperature. Normally, the test conditions for measurement of melt flow rate are specified in the material standard with a reference to this part of iso 13.
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