• Composites Research
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.363-372
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• 2013

Numerical simulation for Resin Transfer Molding manufacturing process is attempted by using the eXtended Finite Element Method (XFEM) combined with the level set method. XFEM allows to obtaining a good numerical precision of the pressure near the resin flow front, where its gradient is discontinuous. The enriched shape functions of XFEM are derived by using the level set values so as to correctly describe the interpolation with the resin flow front. In addition, the level set method is used to transport the resin flow front at each time step during the mold filling. The level set values are calculated by an implicit characteristic Galerkin FEM. The multi-frontal solver of IPSAP is adopted to solve the system. This work is validated by comparing the obtained results with analytic solutions. Moreover, a localization method of XFEM and level set method is proposed to increase the computing efficiency. The computation domain is reduced to the small region near the resin flow front. Therefore, the total computing time is strongly reduced by it. The efficiency test is made with a simple channel flow model. Several application examples are analyzed to demonstrate ability of this method.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.556-561
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• 2007

The rapid thermal response(RTR) molding is a novel process developed to raise the temperature of mold surface rapidly in the injection stage and then cool rapidly to the ejection temperature by air or water. The objectives of this paper are to investigate the effect of mold temperature, pressure and thickness of micro pattern molding and to provide a optimization of RTR injection molding for micro pattern from Moldflow simulation. Optimal minimum temperature and pressure was found without shortcut according to thickness. Filling percentage was influenced by glass transition temperature with the kinds of resin. Optimal temperature is slightly higher than glass transition temperature irrespectively of pressure, thickness, the kinds of resin in the micro pattern molding.

• 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.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.257-267
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• 2003

For the treatment of reactive phenolic resin waste, a simulation model of pervaporative dehydration process has been developed through hollow fiber membrane module. Some of basic parameters were determined directly from dehydration of the waste liquid through a flat sheet membrane to get realistic values. The simulation model was verified by comparing the simulated values with experimental data obtained from hollow fiber membrane module. Hollow fiber membranes with active layer coated on inside fiber were used, and feed flew through inside hollow fiber. Feed flow rate affected membrane performances and reaction by providing a corresponding temperature distribution of feed along with fiber length. Feed temperature is also a crucial factor to determine dehydration and reaction behavior by two competing ways; increasing temperature increases permeation rate as well as water formation rate. Once the permeate pressure is well below the saturated vapor pressure of feed, permeate pressure had a slightly negative effect on permeation performance by slightly reducing driving force. As the pressure approached the vapor pressure of feed, dehydration performances declined considerably due to the activity ratio of feed and permeate.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.1581-1588
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• 2011

In this study, flow characteristics in a multi-cavity injection molding process were investigated. One of main problems occurred in the multi-cavity molding is a flow imbalance among cavities since it affects physical properties and quality of products. Charge imbalance is caused by the uneven shear stress. Therefore, changes in viscosity affect the physical properties of resin and injection conditions differ in the filling imbalance phenomenon. Through, this study focus on experimental studies of flow imbalance for PC and PP resin occurring in a balanced delivery system. Experimental results were compared with CAE results. By experimental and CAE analysis, main cause for the flow imbalance is temperature distribution in cross section of runner. New runner system with a simple change of runner shape was suggested to avoid the flow imbalance. A series of simulation to confirm feasibility of Volume Runner's effects was conducted using injection molding CAE.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.7-14
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• 2008

The objective of this work is to propose a procedure to simulate the flow in the LCM (Liquid Composites Molding) processes by finite difference discretization in a curvilinear coordinate system adapted to the shape of the saturated zone. The numerical results obtained are compared with experimental results obtained by an experimental device elaborated at our laboratory. It allows to realize linear and radial injections for different porosities and to observe the flow front kinetics. Numerical and experimental results are then compared with those of the literatures and excellent agreements are noticed. Finally, we suggest a concept of the capillary number to explain the variations of the permeability obtained for pressure values lower than 0.25 Bar.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.735-745
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• 1997

In this study, the compressibility of resin was considered in filling analysis to account for the possible packing type flow. A numerical simulation program employing a hybrid finite element/finite difference scheme was developed to solve Hele-Shaw flow of the compressible viscous fluid at non-isothermal conditions. To advance the melt front, a control volume approach was adopted. Thin complex 3-D shapes of cavities, runners, and sprues were discretized by employing triangular, cylindrical and/or rectangular strip elements. Mass conservation was applied to each control volume to solve for the pressure distribution. Directly applying a constant mass flow rate at the inlet removes calculation of the apparent pressure boundary conditions, resulting in better simulation condition. The Cross model was used to model viscosity and the Tait equation was employed to represent density as a function of temperature and pressure. The validity of the developed program was verified through comparisons with available data in the literature and the effect of compressibility on the pressure distribution was discussed. To reduce computation time, 1-D and 2-D elements were used instead of applying triangular elements and the numerical results were compared to each other.

• Composites Research
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.340-347
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• 2015

As resin impregnates through the fiber preform in vacuum assisted resin transfer molding process, the volume of fibers is changed by expansion of fiber mat according to filling time. It causes not only the change in dimension but also the decrease of mechanical properties of the composite product. Moreover, it results in the economic loss by increase of the used amount of resin especially in the large product such as wind turbine blade. In this study, the ways to control fiber volume fraction were investigated by both the experimental and theoretical analyses on the expansion of fiber preform as the preform was impregnated by resin in the VARTM process. Two kinds of swelling stage were observed as flow front progressed, which was analyzed by comparing the experimental and simulation results. The process parameters are expected to be optimized by investigating the swelling behavior of fiber preform in the manufacturing process of the composite product.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2000.04b
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• pp.795-800
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• 2000

A CCFL(Counter Current Flow Limit) test have been performed in narrow annular gaps with large diameter, because it has been confirmed that the CCFL phenomena affected the critical power in hemispherical narrow gap geometries from the SONATA(Simulation Of Naturally Arrested Thermal Attack)-IV (In-Vessel)/VISU(Visualization)-II experiments. The objectives of the CCFL experiments are to investigate the small gap sizes(1, 2mm) effect on CCFL under the large diameter condition and to confirm the findings of the VISU-II study that global dryout in hemispherical narrow gaps was induced by the CCFL. The test section was made of acrylic resin to allow visual observation on the two-phase flow behaviors inside annular gaps. It was observed from visualization that a part of water supplied was accumulated in the upper plenum and a significant increase in the differential pressure across the gap was occurred, which was the definition of the CCFL occurrence in this experimental study. From the experimental results in annular gap with large diameter it can be known that an increase in the differential pressure was not big at small air flow-rates. When the CCFL was occurred, the differential pressure across gaps was increased significantly and a water accumulated in the upper plenum. The occurrence of CCFL was correlated using the Wallis parameter.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.855-865
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• 2001

The optimization condition of injection molding for a commercial product of TV speaker grille of A Company was induced using a CAE software of Moldflow. The flow and packing phase analysis was performed by using flow balance, runner balance, and the intermediate one by using the above two balances, which were used for controlling the amount of packing resins into the cavity, Later, the analysis performed by using the measured viscosity (local database) at various shear rates and the results were compared with the computer simulation using the standard database. Flow balance induced minimized weld line resulted in a better appearance and physical properties of the were line, but exhibited a disadvantage of large deformation and gas formation due to over-packing of the molten resin in the center of the speaker grille. Runner balance improved the disadvantage of the flow balance by controlling the amount of molten resin injected from the gate, however resulted reduced mechanical properties and poor appearance of the weld line. However, the modified method induced from the flow and runner balance improved the disadvantages by changing the runner size. In addition, the analyses based on the local database and the standard database were compared. Although the measured viscosity was slightly higher and the temperature distribution was broader than the standard database, no distinct difference was obtained from the analysis using the two different databases.