Mechanical Engineering Technology

MCET 211 Materials Technology

Group Leader: Patricia Delph

Contributors:

Matt Eckert

Dustyn Crowley

Instructor Name: Professor Parthum Jr.

Section: 01 - Tuesday 11:00 am

Experiment Title:

Melt Flow Testing Lab

Date Submitted: March 7, 2017

Date tested: February 28, 2017

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ABSTRACT
The objective of this lab was to see how the polymers structure influenced the testing
results for the areas of temperature, strength of polymers, and melt flow index. The materials
that were used in the testing were Lyondell Basell Profax SR257M PP Copolymer and Nexeo
Solutions Polypropylene HIVAL 2412. During the procedure, we put the materials, (one at a
time) through the machine called a Dynisco Polymer Test machine. This machine cuts the
material for a specific amount of time per each cut. The material has to be cut three times and
all three samples had to be weight in grams. The major findings of the testing were that the
mass of each sample of one material had increased as time went along which caused the Melt
Flow Rate (MFR) to be increased as well.

RESULTS

Summary Table

Lyondell Basell Profax SR257M PP

Nexeo Solutions Polypropylene HIVAL 2412
Copolymer

Masses Melt Flow Rates Masses Melt Flow Rates

Samples Samples
(g) (g/10 mins) (g) (g/10 mins)

1 0.391 0.303 1 0.695 13.900

2 0.497 0.657 2 0.680 13.600

3 0.515 1.717 3 0.780 15.600

Total Total
0.468 0.892 0.718 14.367
Average: Average:

Table 1: Summary Table

Information for Testing

Melt Flow
Cut per Melting
Materials Index (g/10 % Difference
time (s) temperature (C)
mins)
Lyondell Basell Profax
180 230 2 -0.554
SR257M PP Copolymer
Nexeo Solutions
30 230 12 0.197
Polypropylene HIVAL 2412
Table 2: Information for Testing

% Difference = (Average total – Published Value) / Published Value

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OBSERVATIONS

 The results have shown that the data from publication and the data from testing
are not a match but they were close enough to ensure that no huge errors had
impacted the results. The materials had two different properties and different
structures to compare to get the melt flow rates, difference.

 The copolymer has a slower melt flow rate compared to the polypropylene’s melt
flow rate, this is because the structure of each material is different. Copolymer’s
structure has good strength from having impact resistance, rigid stiffness,
dimensional satiability and because it is easy to mold. While polypropylene’s
structure has a good toughness by having a high stiffness, stretch-ability, good
impact resistance, and it is easy to weld.

 The structure or property relationship of these two materials were to see the
difference between the melt flow of each material and the quality of the material
as well as the improvement of the manufacturing processes for the plastics.

 The two materials, Lyondell Basell Profax SR257M PP Copolymer and Nexeo
Solutions Polypropylene HIVAL 2412, data are very close to the published data
but the copolymer’s % difference is -0.554% which is below the published data,
which is 2 g/ 10 mins while the average out of three samples is 0.892 g/ 10 mins.
And polypropylene’s % difference is 0.197% which is a little over the published
data, which is 12 g/ 10 mins and the average out of three samples is 14.367 g/
10 mins.

 The one possible source of error could be from the samples because the
samples could have been made at different times. Another possibility is the
scales used for weighing the samples in grams because the scale might not be
perfectly set on zero before weighing the samples. A third possibility could be the
simple source of human error because humans are manually cutting the
samples. Fourthly and lastly a possible source of error is the timer being used
because we could have started the timer early or later than the melt flow started.

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APPENDIX

RAW DATA

Figure 1: Raw Data

REFERENCES
1. Published Data for Lyondell Basell Profax SR257M PP Copolymer,
Accessed by March 5, 2017
https://www.ulprospector.com/en/na
2. Published Data for Nexeo Solutions Polypropylene HIVAL 2412,
Accessed by March 5, 2017
https://www.ulprospector.com/en/na
3. Information about Melting Flow Index, Accessed by March 5, 2017
http://www.prestogroup.com/articles/high-quality-of-melt-flow-index-tester/
4. Information about Lyondell Basell Profax SR257M PP Copolymer,
Accessed by March 5. 2017
http://omnexus.specialchem.com/product/lyondellbasell-profax-sb787-
polypropylene-impact-copolymer
5. Information about Nexeo Solutions Polypropylene HIVAL 2412, Accessed
by March 5, 2017
http://www.essentialchemicalindustry.org/polymers/polypropene.html

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