Abstract
In this study, we propose an integrated particle approach based on the coupling of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) and discrete element method (DEM) to predict the injection molding process of discrete short fibers. The fibers in the coupled SPH-DEM model are treated as non-rigid bodies to allow deformation and fracture. The interaction between resin and fibers is solved by a physical model to take into consideration of drag forces. Two cases of injection molding process with different volume fractions of short fibers are studied to predict the flow behaviors of fibers and resin. The numerical results qualitatively agree with previous experimental studies. It is found that the velocity contour of resin flow is parabolic in shape due to the velocity gradient near the wall boundaries and consequently the moving direction of fibers is in parallel with the flow direction of resin. Fiber accumulation is found in the case with higher content of short fibers.
Highlights
Injection-molded short fiber composites are commonly utilized in automobile and lightweight structures, due to their distinctive advantages, such as superbly flexible molding, short time and low cost of processing, and good stiffness and strength to a certain extent [1, 2]
Considering the research gap mentioned above, we propose a coupled smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH)-discrete element method (DEM) approach to simulate the injection process of short fiber composites
SPH is applied to model resin flow by using particle approximations of the Navier-Stokes equations and DEM is used to model the fibers through bonded particles
Summary
Injection-molded short fiber composites are commonly utilized in automobile and lightweight structures, due to their distinctive advantages, such as superbly flexible molding, short time and low cost of processing, and good stiffness and strength to a certain extent [1, 2]. Yashiro et al [1, 2] utilized the moving particle semi-implicit (MPS) method [14, 15] to simulate the injection process of short fiber composites This method is capable of tracking the free surface flow, such as flow-fronts and the motion of each fiber, which is represented by an assembly of particles. Experiments were conducted for the validation of the numerical simulations He et al [18, 19] conducted 2D and 3D SPH simulations of the injection molding process of short fiber composites, considering the polymer as a power law fluid and the fibers as rigid bodies.
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