Fiber Orientation in Injection-Molded Short Fiber Composites with a Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope and Numerical Simulation

공초점 레이저 주사 현미경을 이용한 단섬유 복합재료 사출 성형물 내의 섬유 배열 측정 및 수치모사

A Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope (CLSM) is applied to determine three-dimensional fiber orientation states in injection-molded short fiber composites. Since the CLSM optically sections the composites, more than two planes either on or below the surface of composites can be obtained. Therefore, three dimensional fiber orientation states are determined without destruction. To predict the orientation states, velocity and temperature fields are calculated by using a hybrid FEM/FDM method. The change of orientation state during packing stage is also considered by employing a compressible Hele-Shaw model. The predicted orientation states show good agreement with measured ones. However, some differences are found at the end of cavity. They may result from other effects, which are not considered in the numerical analysis.