Modeling material property heterogeneity in fiber-reinforced injection molded plastic parts

Kishore Pochiraju, Vojin Jovanović

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Fiber reinforced plastic parts manufactured by injection molding have heterogeneous stiffness and strength behavior due to the molding process influence on the fiber orientations. This paper presents a methodology for determining the process-dependent anisotropic and inhomogeneous mechanical properties of injection-molded parts using a thickness-wise layered homogenization technique. This technique produces an equivalent laminated meso-scale representation at any location in the part and enables point-wise application of the existing laminated plate and shell theories. The methodology is demonstrated by illustrating property variations in edgegated and center-gated plaques. Spatial variations of elastic moduli, shear modulus, and Poisson's ratio are modeled. The model can be conveniently embedded within finite element structural analyses accounting for the process-dependent material heterogeneities within the structure.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)98-113
Number of pages16
JournalPolymer Composites
Volume26
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2005

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