Author(s)

E. Devilers & M. Vincent

Abstract

Fibre orientation in injection moulding of a disk E. Devilers, M. Vincent Centre de Mise en Forme des Materiaux, URA CA^ J37^, Eco/e dea Mme^ de f ana, Bf f07, 06904 Sophia-Antipolis Cedex, France ABSTRACT The orientation of short fibres during the filling of a disk cavity is studied. The flow kinematics is obtained using a finite element method with a moving mesh technique. The orientation is calculated with a decoupled method. Results show the effect of the flow near the material front and at the sprue- disk junction. INTRODUCTION Short fibre reinforced thermoplastic polymers present interesting mechanical properties, and are processed with conventional techniques such as injection moulding. Nevertheless anisotropic mechanical properties are often obtained because fibres get oriented by the flow. Moreover, as the coefficients of expansion of the fibers, usually glass, and of the matrix are very

Keywords