• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.79-87
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• 1996

SMC(Sheet Molding Compound) is made of unsaturated polyester resin and other additives reinforced with randomly distributed chopped fiberglass strands. Because of its higher stiffness per unit mass, SMC was used as a substitute for steel for automotive steel outer panels. Thus, understanding of flow characteristics during fabrication of SMC is of importance since the formation of weld line depends on material flow. In the present study, SMC compression molding simulations in the flat and T-shape molds were accomplished. During simulations, the preferential the preferential flow occurred at the low mold closing speed while plug flow was observed for the higher mold closing speed. When the preferential flow was observed, the weld line was seen at the final stage. For simulations, rigid-viscoplastic finite element method was applied. Self-contact algorithm was also applied in order to predict the formation of the weld line. Simulation results were compared to the experimental results available in the literature.

• Journal of Advanced Engineering and Technology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.285-290
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• 2017

Molding of body with ribs is the most difficult during flow molding process. The rib area is easy to be deformed at the rear side due to wall thickness variation. In this study, relationships between molding condition and deflection of rib-shaped part is investigated during the compression molding of fiber reinforced plastic composites, and the following results are derived. Polypropylene(PP), Polystyrene(PS), and stampable sheet(SS 40wt%) show the increment of deflection along with releasing temperature. For the correlation between incremental holding pressure load and deflection, stampable sheet exhibits lower deflection along with higher holding pressure, while PS shows significant increase of deflection with higher holding pressure, PP shows completely different characteristic, significant reduction of deflection along with higher holding pressure. Regarding to mold temperature and deflection, deflection amount of SS is the biggest, and PS shows the smallest. In addition, all three kinds shows the highest amount of deflection at 173C. Deflection is reduced when mold closing speed is increased. Amount of deflection in SS is larger and is not highly dependent on molding conditions like holding pressure and cooling parameters, compared with single component material like PP. This can be elucidated by anisotropic and inhomogeneous characteristics of glass fiber during filling process of stampable sheet composite.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.1490-1500
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• 1995

Compression molding of SMC (Sheet Molding Compound) in a thin plaque with substructures like a rib is involved with the formation of surface defect along the centerline over the rib area called by sink mark depending on process parameters. The surface quality of the external panels in automotive manufacturing is so critical that this kind of defect should be eliminated during manufacturing stages. The effect of process parameters on sink mark formation and the distribution of chopped fiberglasses in the compression molded thin plaque with a rib was experimentally investigated in the present study. In order to estimate the effect of the molding parameters such as molding temperature, mold closing speed, depth of the rib, corner radius of the rib, and final molded part thickness of flat portion on the depth of sink mark and the distribution of fiberglasses in the molded SMC part with the rib under the present experimental conditions, the molding parameters used in experiments were non-dimensionalized equation for predicting the depth of sink mark was determined through dimensional analysis based on the experimental data. The orientation and distribution of fiberglasses and fillers which directly affect the formation and depth of sink mark were investigated by taking the photographs of the cross-sectional area of the molded specimen using scanning electron microscope. The experimental results proposed from this investigation are useful in understanding the formation of sink mark and predicting the depth of sink mark in compression molding of SMC with substructures.