FIBER ORIENTATION IN INJECTION MOLDING OF REINFORCED THERMOPLASTICS

Powders, flakes, and fibers are generally incorporated into plastic resins to selectively modify mechanical properties of the original resin. With fibrous fillers, the improvements can be further magnified due to the influence of the fiber aspect ratio and anisotropy as well as fiber orientation. The orientation of fibers can vary significantly across the thickness of injection-molded part and becomes a key feature of the finished product. Improving the mechanical properties of molded parts by managing the orientation of fibers during the process of injection molding is the basic motivation of this study. In this study analyzing the effect of pressure distribution on the state of fiber orientation after complete filling of the cavity is considered. The result reveals the importance of packing pressure in orienting the fibers.

Keywords:

Injection Molding , Fiber Orientation , Reinforced Thermoplastics