Compression molding of glass reinforced thermoplastics: Modeling and experiments

Abstract

AbstractThe shearing and extensional behavior of glass mat‐thermoplastic (GMT) material under compression molding was investigated with a special model being developed for the case of non‐lubricated mold‐plate surfaces. Mathematical expressions for the radial and through‐thickness flow velocities were derived that enabled the derivation of extensional and shear strain rates. The GMT non‐lubricated (no‐slip wall conditions) compression molding was modeled as a combination of extensional and shearing flow and the two extensional and shear viscosities were determined. Scott's approach was used in this work to determine the radial velocit in the r‐direction, which depends on the shear power‐law expression. The velocity component in the z‐direction was then calculated using the continuity equation. The velocity profiles were used to calculate the shear and extensional strain rates. Scott's shear viscosity did not satisfy the constitutive equation for the extensional part, but a power‐law expression with new parameters depending on the deformation tensors was successfully used to calculate an independent extensional viscosity using the same non‐lubricated squeezing experiment. Lubricated squeezing flow was carried out for the same material to achieve a pure extensional flow, and the extensional viscosity calculated using this approach agreed with the extensional viscosity determined using the non‐lubricated experiment. GMT material used in this study is confirmed to have two layers of continuous long fibers orientated randomly inplane, separated by short chopped fibers in the middle, which suggests that the material can be treated as an isotropic material, and the fiber‐matrix separation is seen to be high at the extremities of the flow.