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On studies of tensile properties in

injection molded short carbon fiber
reinforced PEEK composite

Article in Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology · September 1996

DOI: 10.1007/BF02942645

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362 KSME Journal, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 362--371, 1996

On Studies of Tensile Properties in Injection Molded Short Carbon

Fiber Reinforced PEEK Composite

Dong-Joo Lee*
(Received Novenber 25, 1995)

Both elastic modulus and strength of injection molded carbon fiber filled poly-ether-ether-
ketone (PEEK) composite are studied under tension. The measured moduli and ultimate
strengths of injection molded carbon fiber reinforced P E E K have been compared with the model
predicted values. For injection molded PEEK composite, the experimentally obtained values of
tensile modulus show a fair agreement but those of the tensile strength show a poor agreement
with the theoretically predicted values. Many processing factors seem to be more critical issue
for the strength than the stiffness of short-fiber reinforced composites. Considering the service
performance of composites depends on three interactions - material, design and processing,
monitoring the processing can be critical to have a best performance of composite. Processing
factors have been discussed in cases of short carbon fiber reinforced PEEK composite based on
the comparision between experimental and theoretically predicted data to obtain the best
composite material.

Key Words: Short Carbon Fiber Reinforced PEEK Composite, Injection Molding, 'Tensile
Strength, Processing Parameters

nents having complex geometrical contours with

I. Introduction great versatility, fast and inexpensive processing
methods for high-volume applicalions and
Recent development in high-performance poly- isotropic behavior of parts. Nevertheless, the
mer composites has made it possible to offer existing short-fiber composites have not been fully
advanced composites with superior weight-to- developed to yield optimum performance due to
strength ratios compared to the conventional no clear understanding of processing parameters
metal ailoys. Especially carbon fiber reintbrced on the injection molded parts and no standard
plastics are being used increasingly in load bear- evaluation methods.
ing components such as aircraft components, P E E K is currently the most studied semicrystal-
pressure vessels and pipes. Therefore, the growing line, thermoplastic material of the kind. It is also
acceptance of polymer composites as effective one of the most selected as a matrix material for
load bearing and weight saving structural mate- advanced composite materials with rich field for
rials have brought about a need for development various product forms. The reasons for its popu-
of technologies for efficient design and cost effec- larity stem from its good thermal stability, excel-
tive fabrication methods. The short-fiber compos- lent toughness, outstanding chemical and solvent
ites, not as strong or as stiff as continuous fiber resistance, and low flammability (Cogswell,
composites, do have several attractive characteris- 1992). Therefore, P E E K has been selected for this
tics that make them worthy of consideration for study since the properties of matrix resin are
other applications such as automotive parts. critical to each stage in the life of composites.
Those are the possibilities of fabricating compo- Furthermore, the properties of polymer compos-
* Dep|. of Mechanical Eng. Yeungnam University ites are strongly influenced by the properties of
Gyungsan, Gyungbuk, Korea, 712-749 reintbrcing materials, their types, their distribu-
 On Studies o f Tonsile Properties in lnjecion Molded short carbon fiber Reinforced PEEK... 363

tion and interaction between the matrix and rein-

forcing materials. Among these factors affecting
2. Experimental Procedures
the properties of composites, one of the key ele-
ments having profound effects on the properties is The P E E K / c a r b o n fiber composits specimens
the geometry of the reinforcing materials. The were made with 10, 20, 30 and 40 weight % fiber
geometry of reinforcing material can be described with fiber length of 1.0 mm manufactured by RTP
as shape, size, aspect ratio and distributions Corp., Winone, Mn. U.S.A. for the, present study.
(Kelly, 1973). Young's modulus, tensile strength and Poisson's
The properties of simple test specimens are ratio were 3.6 GPa, 92.0 MPa, 0.4 for PEEK and
often superior to those of actual molded parts. 230 GPa, 3650 MPa, 0.20 for fiber respectively.
The main reason may be the molding conditions The ASTM D638 tensile specimens with 2 mm
are different although the mold temperature and thickness were used to measure the tensile prop-
injection conditions appear to be same. Therefore, erties of short-fiber composites. Strain gages were
the effects of processing conditions should be chosen to measure specimen modulus. The open-
understood in order to develop the materials with faced general purpose strain gage and M-bond
maximum performance. The properties of injec- 200 kit tu Micromeasurement Group Inc. were
tion molded parts depend especially on factors used in his study. The 2100 multichanne[ system
such as flow pattern during molding, locations of by Measurement G r o u p Inc. were used to measure
weldlines, fiber orientations, packing density, srain with a bridge voltage of 1 volt. For flexural
thermal history and morphology. To obtain the and shear properties, the bar specimens (1.26 cm
maximum performance with optimum micros- x0.65 cm• cm) were used. Both moduli
tructure of short-fiber composites, the effects of were measured using strain gage mounted in
processing conditions and the strength mecha- tension side for flexure and mounted • degree
nisms should be understood. The first step is not on the modified losipescu sample for shear
only organizing the proper evaluation methods modulus (Lee et al., 1995).
but also readjusting or setting a standard model Both types o f specimens were :molded on an
that is currently not clear to apply as evaluation A R B U R G 221E/150 injection molding machine.
techniques. Several approaches have been Molding conditions were :
proposed to develop theoretical models predicting
elastic modulus and ultimate tensile strength of Temperature Settings,
short-fiber composites in the literature. These At barrel-rear 354oc
approches range from empirical modeling based -middle 37 I~
on the experimental observations to sophisticated nozzle 377oc
analytical treatments based on a microscopic mold 191oc
point of view. pressure Setting,
The objective of this study is to investigate the Injection pressure 68 MPa
various theories of the elastic modulus and the
Time Settings,
strength of randomly oriented fiber reinforced
Injection 5 sec
composites, and to relate these models to the
Clamp 15 sec
injection molded P E E K / c a r b o n fiber composites.
Total Cycle 18 sec
Also, a simple and reliable computational proce-
dure is suggested to estimate composite properties Since the mechanical properties of the semicrys-
and select a standard model for this composite talline matrix material depend on microstructural
system. Furthermore, it tries to understand the details such as spherulites size, orientation, degree
effects of processing conditions and micros- of crystallinity, and degree of transcrystallinity
tructure on the mechanical prperties of injection that depend on the processing conditions, the
molded PEEK composites. same molding conditions were kept for all s a m -
364 Dong-Joo Lee

pies. Piggot (1980) suggested the modulus for com-

All tests were done using an lnstron universal posites having fibers which are random in three
testing machine in room temperature and relative dimensions as
humidity of 50%. A testing speed was 1.25 m m / Ec ( I / 5 ) V~-EI+ V,~Em
min as a recommended testing speed for many
Lavngood and Goettler (1987) established a
polymeric materials. Typically, five specimens
general procedure for predicting the average
were used for a single evaluation.
Young's modulus for randomly oriented short-
fiber composites. When the fibers are two dimen-
3. Results and Discussion sionally oriented, they derived the Reuss-type
expression as :
3.1 Models for elastic modulus of short- E c = 2 4 E11E22/(7Ezz+ 17Eli)
fiber composite
where E , I = E , , + Vj-(E/-Em)
Among the many models predicting elastic
E22= F,n[{2 V s ( R - I ) + ( R +2)}
modulus of short-fiber composites from empirical
/{ Vs(1 - R ) + ( R + 2 ) } ]
modeling based on the experimental observations
to sophisticated analytical treatments based on a in which E,~ and E j are Young's moduli of the
microscopic point of view, some of them will be matrix and fiber, respectively. V~- is the volume
discussed. The emphasis will be on the two- fraction of the fiber; R is the ratio of transverse
dimensional case in this study. fiber modulus to matrix modulus.
The simplest models are those which make use Tsai and Pagano (1968) showed that the
of the rule of mixtures (combining rules). Voigt modulus of short-fiber composites can be predict-
assumed that each component was subject to the ed approximately b y :
same strain (isostrain), giving, Ec=(3/8)Ell + (5/8)E22
E,, EfVs+EmV,~ where the Halpin-Tsai equations for longitudinal
Alternately, Reuss assumed that each phase was (Ell) and transverse (E22) moduli of aligned
subject to the same stress (isostress), giving, short-fiber composited can be written as

E c - EmEj-/(E~ VI+ E:- V,,) _Ell 1 + (2 l / d ) r/L [~

EM 1 - ~7I_Vj
where E denotes modulus and V volume frac- ( LS / E,~) -
tion, and the subscripts c, nz and f represent where z?L= (Es/Em)+2(1/d)
composite, matrix resin and fiber, respectively. and
Hori and Onogi (1951) proposed the follow-
E22 l + 2,?r Vj- (EI/E,~)- l
ing : EM- ]--~ where 7IT = (Es/Em)+2
E ~ - ( E H E2,~)I/'~ Christensen and Waals (1972) used the average
where EH and E2~ are the moduli in the machine approach to find the isotropic elastic constants for
and cross-directions for machine-made paper. For fiber composites with 2 and 3 dimensional ran-
short-fiber composite, one can use Ea,--E~ from dom fiber orientation. For two-dimensional case
Voigt model and Ez2=E~ from Reuss model. the results are,
Cox (1952) who used a shear lag formulation
to model the longitudinal elastic modulus showed Ec=~( U12- U22)
that the modulus of short-fiber composites can be
3 +~+ (3 + 3/.q 2 + 3/.,'122)C~3I~23
expressed as : where Uz y E I 1 2(G23+K23)
E ~ = ( 1 / 5 ) E H + (4/5)E22 1 G12 4 ( l +6u12+/2122)G23K23
U~= ~ E i l
2 ( G2z+ K2z)
where Ell and E2z are the same as previously
defined. For the 3-dimensional case (Christensen, 1979),
 On Studies o f Tonsile Properties in lnjecion Molded short carbon fiber Reinforced PEEK... 365

Table 1 Mechanical properties of injection molded composites

Carbon fiber volume fraction

40 % 30 % 20 % 10%
Strength (MPa)
Tension 239.3 220.8 190.4 161.2
Compression 271.7 246.2 219.4 202.4
Flexure 318.6 301.4 280.1 260.4
Shear t19.7 109.9 98.4 84.7
Modulus (GPa)
Tension 31.1 23.2 16.2 9.8
Compression 52.0 43.5 34.1 21.8
Flexure 22,8 16.6 10.8 6.2
Shear 6,3 5.7 4.3 3.3
Elongation at
Break (%) 1.3 1.8 2.1 2.3
Poisson's Ratio
Tension I).37 0.38 0.382 0.39
Compression 0.372 0.387 0.385 0.396

modulus of randomly oriented fiber composite is

E c - [ E l l + (4v12z+ 8v~2+4)Kza][En + (4vt22v12+ 1)Kza + 6( Ga2+ (;2a)]

312E~ ~+ (8 u12z+ 4vt~ + 7)K23+ 2( G~2+ G23)~

where the transverse bulk modulus, K23, the longi- dard deviation for the moduli is less than 7 % and
tudinal shear modulus, G~, and the transverse the standard deviation for the tensile strength is
shear modulus, G2a, can be obtained from the less than 15 %. Figure. 2 shows SEM microgra-
results of Hill (1964) and Hashin (1962). phof the typical fracture surface with 30 % fober
Weng and Sun (1979) used the Christensen- content under tensile loading, The measured
Waals equations along with micromechanics moduli under various Ioadings are compared in
equations that were modified to account for the Fig. 3.
effect of fiber length. The effect of fiber length was
modeled using a so-called "fictitious fiber", which
included the effect of matrix material at the ends
of the fiber. This, model is not compared in this
work since the values show small differences
between them. Halpin and Kardos (1978) predict-
ed the stiffness of short-fiber composite using
laminate theory. This complex model gives a
similar result as Hori & Onogi (195I) and also
9not discussed in this paper9
Typical stress-strain curves of the tested mate-
rials are shown in Fig. 1. Their mechanical prop-
erties under tensile, compressive, flexural and Fig. 1 Stress-strain behavior of PEFK/carbon fiber
shear loadings are shown in Table 1. The stan- composites9
366 Dong-Joo Lee

Fig. 2 Faitured Surface with 30 % Carbon Fiber

Content.

Fig. 4 Comparison between model predicted

moduli and experimentally measured moduli.

reasonable agreement for a certain composite,

many factors such as fiber distribution, interface/
interphases, aspect ratio, etc. should be recon-
sidered not only to have a maximum performance
material but also to monitor the processing tech-
nique. Those will be discussed later. However,
both models by Tsai & Pagano and Christensen &
Waals should be processing criteria for carbon
fiber/PEEK composite. Especially, since Tsai
and Pagano model even takes the aspect ratio
(fiber length/fiber diameter) into consideration,
Fig. 3 The measured moduli under tensile, compres-
this model is recommended to study the molding
sive, flexural and shear loadings.
operations and material parameters.

Figure 4 shows the comparison between the 3.2 Models for strength of short-fiber com-
predicted moduli by various theoretical models posites
and experimentally measured moduli of short Unlike continuous composites, short-fiber com-
carbon fiber reinforced PEEK composite as a posites with randomly oriented fibers are close to
function of fiber concentration. The moduli isotropic materials, i.e., macroscopic properties
increase with increasing fiber content as expected. are approximately equal in all directions. For the
Some models are in fair agreement with the purpose of predicting the strength of short-fiber
experimental data at low fiber volume fraction. composites, various models have been proposed
As shown in the figure, the predicted values of in the literature. Many of those models were
Tsai and Pagano model (1968) and Christensen developed through theoretical analyses based on
and Waals model (1972) show a fair agreement micromechanics with simpified assumptions and
with experimental data of this composite system. idealization of complex phenomena. Thus there
For the elastic tensile moduli of short-fiber are limitations of applicability of those models.
composites, there is no single theory satisfactorily whereas some models were modified with empiri-
describing the elastic properties of all short-fiber cal parameter to improve the accuracy of the
composites. Considering that each model has a model.
 On Studies o f Tonsile Properties in lnjecion Molded short carbon fiber Reinforced PEEK... ,:'167

Most of short-fiber composite strength models length but also in fiber orientation for actual
were developed by modifying the rule of mixtures. short-fiber composites, the rule of mixtures is
Kelly and Tyson (1965) modified the contribu- modified to (Curtis et al., I978)
tion of fiber strength based on the assumption
c~c=c~sVsF( l / l ~ ) C ~- ojfi - V,,)
that plastic flow will occur during stress transfer
where the fiber orientation factor, C, has been
between matrix and fibers, giving,
determined by experiments. Based on their experi-
or<= a/Vs(l - 1</21) + V,.a~ mental works, C can be 0.36 for Vs =10 % and
where or< is ultimate tensile strength of composite ; C = 0 . 4 3 for Vs=40 % respectively. For a random
~s, ~m, strengths of fiber and matrix, respectively ; array of fibers, Cox (1952) classical shear lag
and 1, 1~, fiber length and critical length of fibers. analysis leads to C = 1/3 and C = 1/6 in two and
Piggot (1980) accounted for both plastic and three dimensions, respectively. In this study, C
elastic effects in the matrix in his fiber strength can be in the range of 0.37 for low (10 and 20 %)
theory. Piggot's composite strength model is ex- and 0.3 for high fiber volume fractions. Although
pressed by lengthy equations that will not be theoretical estimations of C have been reported
presened here. For composites having fibers (Fukuda and Chou, 1982), it seems quite improb-
which are random in three dimensions, he also able to consider all effects fo fiber orientation.
suggested an upper strength bound as Fukuda and Chou (1982) developed a compos-
ite strength theory based on fiber failure in the
composite due to high stress, and stress concentra-
Vinson and Chou (1975) modified the rule of tion at the ends of the fibers is one of the
mixtures of contnuous fiber composite for the contributing factors to cause the high stress. They
strength of short-fiber composites and derived the used a probabilistic approach to account for the
following equation : fiber ends in a critical conlrol zone :
cw=cD.t~.F(l/l~)-4 ez,(l - V,,,) < = cr,-I4P + c~,~(l - l+)
where/," is a factor which takes into account the where p is a factor which account lot the proba-
effect of fiber length. At high aspect ratios 1>>1<, bilities of finding fiber gaps in the control zone.
it is reasonable to expect thai the fibers act as a This model is not considered for comparison due
continuous reinforcement and F(I/I<.) should to difficulty in determining p.
approach its limiting value of 1, in agreement With different aspects, Hori and Onogi (1951)
with shear lag analysis predictions. However, developed an empirical strength model tbr the
finite element analyses (Chen, 1971) seem to indi- properties of paper :
cate upper bound as low as 0.5 for the function F
oc-= ( o-1 c~t)~i2
(1/1<) at high fiber aspect ratios_ In this study,
strength is calculated with F(1/l<:)=0.5. where the subscripts 1 and ! denote longitudinal
Riley (1968) considered interaction between and transverse directions, respectively. In this
fibers by taking into consideration of the stress study, both tensile strengths were obtained as o5 =
transfer between fibers in a rationalized fiber O's l/s + s and a , - ( E = a , , ) / ( E , , F ) where F
array such as a hexagonal arrangement, and [s the strain concentration factor (Gibson, [994)
derived a strength equation as: for randomly oriented short-fiber composite.
Hahn (1975) proposed a rndom fiber composite
'~= 7 1+(51<j71) ~ - ~ , . { 1 - V s ) strength model that equals to the average of
off-axis strengths of unidirectional composites if
where the critical fiber 1~ is determined from three
the failure is gradual and if the rule of mixtures is
different theories summarized by Robinson and
applicable for the elastic modulus,
Robinson (1994). But the obtained values are
basically the same. a<.= cr,( 4/ a ) ( a i / a,) Ii'e
Since there are variations not only in fiber Similarly, the subscripts 1 and l denote the tensile
368 Dong-Joo Lee

strengths parallel and perpendicular to the fiber

direction, respectively, In this study, the same
equations as above are used.
Lees (1968) derived the following equation by
assuming three failure mechanisms according to
the maximum stress criterion for randomly ori-
ented short-fiber composites:
ac (2r/7c){1 + at/o,~+ln(atam/r2)}
where r is the in-plane shear strength.
Chen (1971) used the same approach based on
Von Mises-Hencky material failure criteria with
perturbation effect near the fiber using finite
element method :
a~.=(2r/z){2+ln(~b ara,~/r2)} Fig. 6 Comparison between model predicted
where (b is a strength efficiency t:actor which is strengths and experimentally measured tensile
strengths.
characteristic of each type of discontinuous sys-
tem and a,- is the strength of equivalent unidir-
ectional fiber composite. However, due to diffi- and experimentally measured strength of short-
culty in measuring in-plane shear strength accu- fiber PEEK composites as a function of fiber
rately, the last two methods were not calculated in concentration. The strength also increases with
the present study. Several other authors also have increasing fiber content, but most models are in
reported short-fiber composite strength models in poor agreement with the experimental data espe-
the literature including Halpin and Kardos (1978) cially at high fiber volume fractions. As shown in
who used the laminate analogy to approximate the figure, the experimentally obtained values are
the strength of short-fiber composites. lower than all predicted values. However, Piggot
Figure 5 shows the measured strengths under (1980), Hori and Onogi (1951) and Curtis et al.
tensile, compressive, flexural and shear loadings. (1978) strength models show a relatively better
Figure 6 shows the comparison between the agreement with experimental data of short carbon
predicted strengths by various theretical models fiber reinforced PEEK composite.
In order to investigate the reason for this poor
strength compared with most models, the micro-
graph of sample is examined and found that the
fibers are poorly distributed in the pellets. Many
resin rich areas and conversely fiber rich areas
with dry fibers are observed. The resin rich areas
represent a potential source of weakness and fiber
rich areas represent poor stress transfer due to
possible poor wetting of matrix. Thus the poor
strength may be attributable to the non-uniform
distribution of the fibers resulting the poor inter-
facial strength between fiber and matrix. As
known for the most composite system, the proces-
sing temperature and fiber volume fraction are
important as fiber distribution and processibility
Fig. 5 The measured tensile strengths under various of these compounds. For instance, high fiber
loading conditions. fractions generally give difficulty in obtaining
 On Studies o f Tonsile Properties in lnjecion Molded short carbon fiber Reinforced PEEK... 369

void free processing. And low translation of the the full translation of the inherent stiffness of
inherent stiffness and strength of the fiber are fibers into forming stability of a composite struc-
achieved: there is little gain in mechanical per- ture, A variety of mechanisms have been
formance to offset the processing difficulties. By proposed to account for adhesion within the
conlrast, low fiber fractions decrease the mechan- fiber-matrix interphase. These include wetting,
ical performance in proportion to the fiber frac- chemical bonding, mechanical and crystalline
tion and, if excess resin is present, controlling interlocking. Much of the art of manufacturing
resin fiber distribution can be a problem. At this high quality thermoplastic composites lies in
time 1 know of no theoretical analysis and experi- exploiting these mechanisms. It is known (Cog-
mental investigation that express the optimum swell, 1992) that PEEK and carbon fiber are
fiber content for this composite system. Also, generally achieving good adhesion. Also, the
voids can be related with fiber distribution. Of good adhesion with characteristics of ductile frac-
course, fiber content and crystallinity affect den- ture was observed in fractography as shown in
sity independently of void content. In this work, Fig. 2. So, it can be assumed that the interface of
voids are observed both in the matrix and inter- this system is not the main cause of poor strength
face as shown in Fig. 2. Therefore, the low values.
strength for high fiber fraction can be due to not No less significant is the local organization of
only non-uniform distribution of fibers but also the short fibers in the matrix, both in terms of
the voids. Among many possible ways, this can be longitudinal distribution and orientation. The
overcomed by controlling the molding conditions fiber orientation can be another factor that has a
a little bit and by having a better preimpregnation significant effect on composite strength. Previous
of materials. works (Lee & Chin, 1990 and Chung & Kwon,
As the resin-fiber distributmn in a composite is 1995) show relatively uniform fiber orientation
non-uniform, so will be the internal stresses and along the specimen's length in practical injection
the constraint imposed by the solidification tak- molded tension samples of short-fiber reinforced
ing place as a result of cooling. The surface layers thermoplastic. Figure 2 also supports this assump-
of a molding are first solidified. They will be tion showing the fractured fibers perpendicular to
placed in compression by the subsequent shrink- fracture surface. Even though the high utilization
age of the internal core and will themselves repre- of the fibers by their strong collimation in the
sent a tensile contraint on that part of the mold- model predicted values have higher number than
ing. One major area of concern associated with the experimental values of this system. Consider-
internal stress is the possibility of microcracking. ing this, fiber orientation can not be the only
These factors can be critical if the specimen size cause of poor strength for this composite.
or components are small. The samples that tested Despite the efforts of those researchers, there
in this work have a cross-section of 6 mm width are no theories satisfactorily describing the tensile
and 2 mm thickness. This size can be a problem. strength of this short-fiber composite. Also, at this
Therefore, it is recommended that the standard time 1 know of no theoretical analysis that expres-
test sample for this type of study should be bigger ses the optimum fiber content and no appropriate
than the present ASTM recommended size to processing parameters to have a maximum utiliza-
have a more stable and reliable results. The tion of this composite material, and must there-
change in fiber volume fraction is also significant fore accept the judgment of experience. However,
when the internal stresses within the composite for this short carbon fiber reinforced PEEK com-
due to temperature changes are considered. Such posite, both fiber distribution and the voids as the
knowledge is also not readily available and most important factors should be closely studied
should be investigated experimentally. and controlled to have appropriate mechanical
Close controls of the interface between the properties with the given ingredients. A suitable
matrix and the reinforcement are vital to ensure processing window for this system can be
370 Dong-Joo Lee

obtained by performing more works by changing Discontinuous Fiber Composites," Polym. Eng,
the molding conditions. Sci., 11, No. 1, p. 51--66.
Chung, S. T. and Kwon, T.H., 1995, "'Numeri-
4. Conclusion cal simulation of Fiber Orientation in Injection
Molding of Short-Fiber-Reinforced Thermo-
Both the measured tensile modulus and ulti- plastics." Polm.Eng. and Sci., Vol. 35, No. 7, p.
mate tensile strength of injection molded short- 604-618.
fiber reinforced PEEK have been measured and Cogswell, F. N., 1992, Thermoplastic Aromatic
compared with the theoretically predicted values. Polymer Composites, Butterworth and Heineman.
From this study, the following conclusions can be Christensen, R. M., 1979, Mechanics of Com-
made ; posites Materials, John Wiley & Son.
(1) The experimentally obtained values of ten- Christensen, R. M. and Waals, F. M., 1972,
sile moduli show a fair agreement with the "Effective Stiffness of Randomly Oriented Fiber
predicted values of Tsai and Pagano model, and Composites," J. Comp. Mater., 6, pp. 518--532.
Christensen and Waals model of both 2-D and Cox, H. L., 1952, "The Elasticity and Strength
3-D. Since Tsai and Pagano model allows to of Paper and Other Fibrous Materials," British J.
consider the aspect ratio of filler, it is recom- Appl. Phys., Vol. 3, pp. 7 2 - 7 9 .
mended to apply this model ['or monitoring the Curtis, P. T., Bader, M. G. and Bailey, J. E.,
processing conditions and material parameters for 1978, "The Stiffness and strength of polyamide
this composite system. Thermoplastic Reinforced with Glass and Carbon
(2) The measured values of the ultimate tensile Fibers," J. of Mat. Sci., 13, pp. 377--390.
strength show a poor agreement with the many Fukuda, H. and Chou, T. W., 198I, "'A
theoreically predicted values. To use the strength Probabilistic Theory for the Strength of Short
model as a selection criterion for the best process- Fiber Composites," J. Mater Sci., 16, p. 1088
ing operations, models proposed by Piggot, Hori 1096.
and Onogi, and Curtis et al. should be considered. Gibson, R. F., 1994, Principles of Composite
As expected, many processing factors are found to Material Mechanics, McGraw-Hill lnc.
be more critical issue for strength than stiffness of Halpin, J. C. and Kardos, J. 1978, "~Strength of
short-fiber reinforced composites. Discontinuous Reinforced Composites: I. Fiber
(3) Many processing factors such as fiber dis- Reinforced Composites," Polyrn. Eng. Sci., 18,
tribution, voids, interface/interphase, residual No. 6, p. 496--504.
stress and fiber orientation, have been discussed Hahn, H. T., 1975, "On Approximations for
in cases of short carbon fiber reinforced PEEK Strength of Random Fiber Composites," J.
composites to have an optimum material. Both Comp. Mater., 9, p. 316-- 326.
fiber distribution and volds are the critical param- Hashin, Z., 1962, "The Ealastic Moduli of
eters to be investigated first for injection molding. Heterogeneous Materials," J, Appl. Mech., Vol.
29, pp. 1 4 3 - 157.
Acknowledgment Hill, R., 1964, "Theory of Mechanical Prop-
erties of Fiber-strengthed Materials: I. Elastic
The author gratefully acknowledges helpful Behavior," J. Mech. Phys. Solids, VoI. 13, p. 199.
discussions with the late Dr. H. B. Chin and Dr. Horio, M. and Onogi, S., 1951, "'Dynamic
I. Palley of Research and Technology, Allied- Measurements of Physial Properties of Pulp and
Signal Inc. Morristown, N. J., U.S.A. Paper by Audiofrequency Sound," J. Appl. Phys,
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 On Studies of Tonsile Properties in lnjecion Molded short carbon fiber Reinforced PEEK... 371

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