Injection Molding Simulation of Polyoxymethylene Using Crystallization Kinetics Data and Comparison with the Experimental Process

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Michael Berer
  • Bernd Haar
  • Bruno Ramoa
  • Vito Speranza
  • Roberto Pantani

External Organisational units

  • Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH
  • Universidade do Minho
  • University of Salerno

Abstract

It is well known that the processing conditions in polymer processing have a high impact on the resulting material morphology and consequently the component’s mechanical behavior. However, especially for semicrystalline polymers, the tools available for predicting the final morphology of injection molding parts still have significant limitations. In order to investigate the potential of injection molding simulation for the prediction of the morphology, POM homopolymer specimens were injection molded. The crystallization kinetics data were measured, and simulations in 3D and 2.5D with and without crystallization analysis were conducted in Autodesk Moldflow. The simulations are found to be good accordance with the experiments. Predicted spherulite size and crystalline orientation factor reveal a good qualitative correlation with optical micrographs. Also, the evolution of these parameters along the flow path is plausible. The simulation is found to be a powerful tool for morphology prediction in polymeric parts. Its applicability, however, is still limited to 2.5D models in Autodesk Moldflow, which, of course, is insufficient for complex, thick-walled 3-dimensional parts.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Number of pages15
Journal Polymer crystallization
Volume2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 23 Mar 2022