11/23/2022
By Danielle Fretwell

The Francis College of Engineering, Department of Plastics Engineering, invites you to attend a doctoral proposal defense by Joshua Krantz on “Pressure-controlled injection molding of recycled post-consumer and post-industrial polyolefins.”

Candidate Name: Joshua Krantz
Degree: Doctoral
Date: Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022
Time: 9 – 11 a.m.
Location: ETIC 445 or via Zoom 

Advisor: Davide Masato, Assistant Professor, Department of Plastics Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Committee Members:

  • Davide Masato, Assistant Professor, Department of Plastics Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • David Kazmer, Professor, Department of Plastics Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Margaret Sobkowicz-Kline, Professor, Department of Plastics Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Brief Abstract:

The importance of utilizing recycled materials to manufacture plastic products has been a topic of great interest due to the environmental repercussions. Processing issues arise from the usage of these resins due to the variation in their molecular weight, rheology, and mechanical properties. Pressure-controlled injection molding has been identified as an alternative approach to the molding of these recycled materials. This process control technology was evaluated using multiple regression models in paper one and showed that pressure-controlled molding, which utilizes a lower, constant pressure throughout the molding process, results in comparable or improved mechanical properties and reduced servo energy consumption of recycled film-grade HDPE. This increase in mechanical properties was due to the development of a frozen layer which provided additional molecular orientation due to the lower injection velocities and pressures. Additionally, the pressure-controlled technology can implement automatic process adjustments utilizing the auto-viscosity feature. The viability of this technology for the use of recycled film-grade polyolefins will be evaluated utilizing different batches of polyolefins that have been tailored to have significant viscosity differences.

All interested students and faculty members are invited to attend the defense.