Non-isothermal transient flow and molecular orientation during injection mold filling

Abstract

The properties of injection molded products are directly related to the microstructure which in turn strongly depends on the flow kinematics and thermal history of the polymer melt during the filling process. In this study the mold filling process has been analyzed by using an FEM-code (FIDAP) to solve the equation of continuity, momentum, and energy under transient and non-isothermal conditions. As constitutive relation for a purely viscous fluid, the Bird-Carreau and Arrhenius model was chosen. The phenomenon at the flow front, its flow kinematics, and its significant implication on the microstructure of the part have been investigated in detail. Computed particle tracking showed good agreement with experiments under real processing conditions. Furthermore, a rather simple but effective and useful method for predicting the orientation distribution in an injection molded part was proposed. It was found that the local deformation near the solid wall may be considered as the main source for a typical layer of high orientation on the surface of the part.