Prediction of Process Induced Thermal Residual Stresses in Injection Molded Composites

Abstract

Several models exist for predicting residual thermal stresses in inorganic glasses. A few of these have been applied with some success, to predicting residual stresses in amorphous polymers. One such theory, that of Indenbom, has been used in this study to conduct a sensitivity analysis on the effect of material properties and processing parameters on the residual stress distribution in neat polymers. This theory has then been coupled to a micromechanics theory to predict residual stresses in isotropic short fiber composites (composites which have a 3-D random fiber orientation distribution). Finally a thermoelastic formulation based on incremental stress analysis is proposed for predict ing residual thermal stresses in orthotropic, short-fiber composites with depth varying properties due to the skin-core effect.