Multi-scale molding and numerical simulation of the flow-induced crystallization of polymer

Abstract A numerical simulation for the isothermal flow-induced crystallization (FIC) of polymer melt in a simple shear flow is presented. The model is based on a two-phase suspension model established for crystallization and has the advantage of taking into account the polymer melt rheological behavior through the first normal stress difference calculation. A FENE dumbbell model and a rigid dumbbell model are used to describe the amorphous phase and the semi-crystalline phase, respectively. Crystallization is described as a spherulitical nucleation and growth process. The results show that the short-term shear has a large effect on the crystallization dynamics of polymer.