Experimental approach to modeling of the plasticizing operation in the hot plate welding process

Abstract

The paper discusses the topic of butt welding of polyurethane drive belts by the hot plate method in the context of modeling the process of this technological operation. Based on the analysis of the butt welding process, a series of studies of the thermomechanical properties of the material from which the belt is made has been planned. The results will be used for mathematical modeling of the welding process, and in particular its most important phase: the plasticizing operation. On this basis, the study of the compression of cylindrical specimens taken from the belt has been performed at two different speeds. Their result is the relationship between the compressive stress σc and the modulus of longitudinal elasticity Ec at compression and: deformation εc, temperature value T, as well as the compressive velocity vc. In the next step, dynamic viscosity η of the belt material was determined based on the results of dynamic thermomechanical analysis. The research work culminated in the attempts to plasticize the material on a hot plate, in conditions similar to the process of industrial welding. These studies were performed at different speeds vpl, resulting in the correlation between the force required for plasticizing Fpl and the value of the speed of the belt end vpl relative to the hot plate heated to a temperature Tp. The obtained results will be used to formulate a mathematical model of plasticizing the material, based on the selected mechanical deformation models.