Modelling the dynamic material behaviour of thermoplastics in the FEA

Ernst Schmachtenberg, Markus Glißmann, and Markus Brinkmann

Institute of Plastics Processing (IKV) at RWTH Aachen University

Pontstraße 49, 52062 Aachen, Germany

Abstract

In the automotive industry there are increasing demands for an exact prediction of the mechanical behaviour of safety-relevant components. To face these demands a method to model the mechanical material behaviour of thermoplastics is presented. This model is based on a material description that is used to describe metals and has been extended with a strain rate dependency and a failure criterion. The parameters to calibrate the model are obtained from high-speed tensile tests. Subsequently the portability of the material description from the one-dimensional tensile test to more complex load cases is tested. This is done by conducting penetration tests on even plates. The quality of the material description is then evaluated by a comparison of the results obtained from simulation and test. The results show a good accordance in both the fracture images and the force/displacement-curves.