Mesoscale simulation of the solidification process in injection moulded parts

Abstract

Abstract Due to their wide range of applications and their complex material properties, it is desirable to be able to predict the behaviour of injection moulded parts with the help of simulation tools. For semi-crystalline materials, this can only take place with considerable accuracy if the inhomogeneous material properties are taken into account. Because of this, it is necessary to calculate the microstructure of the solidified melt and to incorporate these findings in the simulation. We present an integrative, multiscale simulation approach in which the manufacturing process is calculated on a macroscale and the solidification process on a mesoscale. A multiphase filling and cooling simulation is done to calculate temperature and velocity fields, which are used as boundary conditions for the calculation of the spherulite distribution in the part. We present the used nucleation and growth model and shortly describe the parallelisation approach of the mesoscale simulation.