Prediction of interfacial strength of HDPE overmolded with EPDM.

Multicomponent injection molding often combines a stiff thermoplastic material with a thermoplastic elastomer or thermoplastic vulcanite. Recently, for high‐demanding applications, a novel process has been developed to replace these thermoplastic elastomers or vulcanite with a thermoset rubber, for example, NBR or EPDM. One of the most important properties of a two component product is an adequate adhesion between both components. This paper describes a method, which combines experiments and numerical simulations to predict the adhesion strength between a thermoplastic, semicrystalline HDPE, and an EPDM thermoset rubber. This method uses numerical simulations of the interfacial temperature and the local degree of cure. The local interface temperature is combined with the results of DSC measurements to predict the degree of melting, subsequently linked to the ability to develop adhesive strength. The degree of cure is used to determine the local rubber strength. The combination of the given data will be used to predict interfacial strength. The results obtained by proposed numerical strategy have been successfully validated with experimental data on a simple plate product. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 59:1489–1498 2019. © 2019 Society of Plastics Engineers [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]