Mathematical Problems in Engineering
Volume 2011 (2011), Article ID 105637, 14 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2011/105637
Review Article

Modeling and Simulation of Fiber Orientation in Injection Molding of Polymer Composites

1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, San 31, Hyoja-dong, Nam-gu, Gyeongbuk, Pohang 790-784, Republic of Korea
2Division of Advanced Nuclear Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, San 31, Hyoja-dong, Nam-gu, Gyeongbuk, Pohang 790-784, Republic of Korea

Received 1 June 2011; Accepted 15 August 2011

Academic Editor: Jan Sladek

Copyright © 2011 Jang Min Park and Seong Jin Park. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

We review the fundamental modeling and numerical simulation for a prediction of fiber orientation during injection molding process of polymer composite. In general, the simulation of fiber orientation involves coupled analysis of flow, temperature, moving free surface, and fiber kinematics. For the governing equation of the flow, Hele-Shaw flow model along with the generalized Newtonian constitutive model has been widely used. The kinematics of a group of fibers is described in terms of the second-order fiber orientation tensor. Folgar-Tucker model and recent fiber kinematics models such as a slow orientation model are discussed. Also various closure approximations are reviewed. Therefore, the coupled numerical methods are needed due to the above complex problems. We review several well-established methods such as a finite-element/finite-different hybrid scheme for Hele-Shaw flow model and a finite element method for a general three-dimensional flow model.