Hybridisation effect on flexural properties of single- and double-gated injection moulded acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) filled with short glass fibres and glass beads particles

The present study investigated the effect of hybridisation on flexural strength and modulus of single-gated (SG) and double-gated (DG) injection moulded acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) polymer reinforced with both short glass fibres (GF) and spherical glass beads (GB). It was observed that flexural strength and modulus of SG and DG ABS/GF/GB hybrids increased with increasing the total concentration of the glass in the hybrid as well as the concentration of glass fibres in the hybrid (χ_f). Results indicated that hybrid flexural properties for both SG and DG mouldings obey the simple rule of mixtures. The presence of weldlines in DG mouldings had a negative effect on flexural properties. It was noted that weldline integrity factor (weld to unweld property ratio) for flexural modulus and strength decreased with increasing the total concentration of the glass in the hybrid. However, whilst weldline integrity factor for flexural modulus decreased with increasing χ_f, weldline integrity factor for flexural strength showed no significant variation with respect χ_f. Weldline integrity factors indicated that the hybrid flexural strength is more affected by the presence of weldline than the hybrid flexural modulus.