Quality monitoring of rotational molded parts using a nondestructive technique

Achieving optimal quality for rotational molded parts requires a determination of specific conditions for oven temperature and heat/cool time. Traditional tests used to assess the quality of these samples rely on destructive methods, such as impact testing. This paper presents an innovative approach using ultrasonic testing associated with multivariate statistical modeling to evaluate the quality of molded polyethylene (PE) parts from several different batches. Results showed a good correlation of predicted quality using non-destructive data with both impact energy failure and melt flow index, indicating the potential of this technique to be applied on the quality monitoring of this process.