Numerical simulation and experimental investigation of injection mold filling with melt solidification

A two-phase model is presented for simulating the injection mold filling process including the effect of transient melt solidification, i.e., the phase change effect. The liquid region is governed by Hele-Shaw flow for a non-Newtonian fluid using a modified Cross model to describe viscosity under non-isothermal conditions. Further, the energy equation of the solid phase is dominated by a transient condition. The interfacial energy balance equation is also proposed to predict the solidified layer thickness and temperature profile. Two well-characterized semicrystalline materials, polypropylene and polyethylene, were used in the present work. Good agreement is obtained between the predicted results and experimental observations from this study and the previous literature concerning the thickness of solid layer, the shape of, advancing melt front, and the pressure traces. In particular, the predicted pressure based upon the two-phase model is higher than that in terms of the single-phase model by about 13 percent. Finally, the semicrystalline structure of the frozen skin layer and the central core were investigated with a scanning electron microscope to verify the two-phase model.

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