Compressible flow analysis of filling and postfilling in injection molding with phase-change effect

In order to predict the shrinkage, warpage and mechanical properties of the injection molded parts, it is necessary to know the history of the flow field during injection-molding processes. In the present investigation a numerical simulation program was developed to predict the flow field in filling and post-filling stages of injection molding. To simulate the real molding conditions more accurately, a generalized Hele-Shaw model for a non-Newtonian fluid was assumed considering the effects of phase change and compressibility of the resin. A finite-element-finite-difference (FEM-FDM) hybrid scheme with control volume approach was employed as the solving technique. For modeling the viscosity of the resin, a modified Cross model was used with a double-domain Tait equation of state being employed in describing the compressibility of the resin during molding. The energy balance equation, including latent-heat dissipation for semicrystalline materials, was solved in order to predict the solidified layer and temperature profile in detail. For verification of the numerical results obtained from the developed program, the simulation results were compared with the experimental results obtained from the test mold set designed in the current study using commercial-grade PP and the data available in the literature. Based on a comparison between experiments and simulations, it was found that the currently developed program was useful in unified simulations of filling and post-filling in injection-molding processes when considering the phase-change effect.