Measurement of residual stresses in injection molded short fiber composites considering anisotropy and modulus variation

Residual stress distribution in injection molded short fiber composites is determined by using the layer-removal method. Polystyrene is mixed with carbon fibers of 3% volume fraction (4.5% weight fraction) in an extruder and the tensile specimen is injection-molded. The layer-removal process, in which removing successive thin uniform layers of the material from the surface of the specimen by a milling machine, is employed and the resulting curvature is acquired by means of an image processing. The isotropic elastic analysis proposed by Treuting and Read which assumes a constant Yaung’s modulus in the thickness direction is one of the most frequently used methods to determine residual stresses. However, injection molded short fiber composites experience complex fiber orientation during molding and variation of Yaung’s modulus distribution occurs in the specimen. In this study, variation of Yaung’s modulus with respect to the thickness direction is considered for calculation of the residual stresses as proposed by White and the result is compared with that by assuming constant modulus. Residual stress distribution obtained from this study shows a typical stress profile of injection-molded products as reported in many literatures. Young’s modulus distribution is predicted by using numerical methods instead of experimental results. For the numerical analysis of injection molding process, a hybrid FEM/FDM method is used in order to predict velocity, temperature field, fiber orientation, and resulting mechanical properties of the specimen at the end of molding.