Flow Analysis of Sheet Molding Compounds in Compression Molding

Abstract

A series of experiments and numerical simulation were carried out of investigates the flow of silly putty and sheet molding compound(SMC) at various processing conditions in compression molding. The flow resistance and the interface friction of both materials were characterized by using a squeeze flow rheometer and the ring compression test, respectively. Molding experiments were carried out on an instrumented mold and the finite element code ALPID (Analysis of Large Plastic Incremental Deformation) was used for numerical simulation. The flow front shape, temperature profile, and pressure change obtained by numerical simulation compared well experimental results.