• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.477-482
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• 2016

Airtight containers have been widely used in many industries and household. They need a packing for sealing between the inside and outside. Previous packing materials have some drawbacks like stench, stickiness, and difficulty of applying to automated manufacturing systems. So, a new packing material which is harmless and suitable for automation is needed. This study performed a hot plate welding process of thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) as the packing material. The hot plate welding process included a phase change process of solidification and melting. The porosity-enthalpy method was adopted in order to simulate phase change problems. The TPE showed non-Newtonian fluid characteristics during the melting process. Since properties of SEBS are not well-defined, we established TPE properties by observing the melting behavior of TPE. In order to find an optimized condition, a parametric study including packing thickness, shapes, hot plate temperature, and thermal resistance, was conducted.