INTEMA   05428
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES EN CIENCIA Y TECNOLOGIA DE MATERIALES
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Characterization and simulation of material distribution and fiber orientation in double gated glass-reinforced polypropylene injection moldings
Autor/es:
QUINTANA MARÍA CAMILA; GAMBA MATIAS MARTINEZ; FRONTINI PATRICIA
Lugar:
Guimarães,
Reunión:
Congreso; International Conference on Polymers and Moulds Innovations ? PMI2014; 2014
Resumen:
It is well known that the characteristics of short fiber reinforced thermoplastic injected components depend on the flow-induced fiber orientation. This can lead to local variation of mechanical properties. In those parts having geometric singularities such as welding lines, even if fibers can greatly improve the mechanical properties of polymers the may also severely weaken molded parts at their weld lines. In order to improve the technology of short fiber reinforced thermoplastic injection molding, computer simulation may be very useful to determine the correct process conditions which are capable of controlling fiber orientation. In this work, injection moldings with weld lines were produced in glass reinforced polypropylene grades differing in filler content using a two-gated hot runner injection mold. The skin-core microstructure developed and fiber orientation were qualitative analyzed. In order to predict the distribution of fiber orientation inside the skin and core layers, and within the weld line region, the commercial CFD simulation software Moldex3D has been utilized. The accuracy of the simulation prediction was evaluated against the experimental measurements of fiber distribution using a polarized light microscopy.