Abstract
A review of the numerical modeling of the compression molding of the sheet molding compound (SMC) is presented. The focus of this review is the practical difficulties of modeling cases with high fiber content, an area in which there is relatively little documented work. In these cases, the prediction of the flows become intricate due to several reasons, mainly the complex rheology of the compound and large temperature gradients, but also the orientation of fibers and the micromechanics of the interactions between the fluid and the fibers play major roles. The details of this during moldings are discussed. Special attention is given to the impact on viscosity from the high fiber volume fraction, and the various models for this. One additional area of interest is the modeling of the fiber orientation.
Highlights
IntroductionFiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are becoming increasingly attractive in areas where properties such as high strength, stiffness, and crash resistance are sought for as well as low weight, for instance in the automotive industry
Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are becoming increasingly attractive in areas where properties such as high strength, stiffness, and crash resistance are sought for as well as low weight, for instance in the automotive industry.Glass or carbon fibers are often used as reinforcing materials
The main advantage with the compression molding of sheet molding compound (SMC) is that the process is relatively fast as compared to many other processes to manufacture FRP composites and that the tooling is relatively cheap compared to metal forming [1]
Summary
Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are becoming increasingly attractive in areas where properties such as high strength, stiffness, and crash resistance are sought for as well as low weight, for instance in the automotive industry. The flow during compression molding of the sheet molding compound (SMC) is in focus. If the fibers can be aligned in desired directions during the molding process, the mechanical properties can be improved extensively. The chopped fibers that initially are orientated in, more or less, random directions may orientate during flow and the final part may get anisotropic mechanical properties as a result. There exist several commercial software packages, such as Autodesk Moldflow, Moldex3D and 3DTimon, that can be used to model the process It should, be noted that all of the above were initially developed for injection molding, and there is not a significant amount of literature on the validation of these platforms with regards to compression molding of SMC [3].
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