Modeling of the Dynamic of Polymer-Glass Fibers Composites

LEANDRO LUDUEÑA; JIMENA SOLEDAD GONZALEZ; JOSE CARELLA; VERA ALEJANDRA ALVAREZ; CARLOS DORAO

Praga

Conferencia; 7th International Conference on Nanostructured Polymers and Nanocomposites; 2012

The shear forces induced in injection molding processes of polymer/fiber composites producefiber breakage which detriments the final properties of the material. Therefore, the prediction of theevolution of the topology of the fibers during the molding process is a critical aspect for obtaining an optimalfinal product. The fibers into the mold runners can be thought as a population of entities that break as theymove along a capillary. As such, the population balance equation (PBE) can be used to study the evolution ofthe fibers1. This equation makes a statistical description of the evolution of a group of entities, and has beenapplied to problems in physics, chemistry and engineering but not for this particular case.The aim of this work is to develop a simple model to predict the evolution of the rupture of fibers ofpolymer-glass fiber composites flowing throughout a capillary at controlled flow fields using the PBE. Theleast squares spectral method will be used to solve the equation.