Developments in the field of microstructure simulation semi-crystalline thermoplastics

 

W. Michaeli, S. Hoffmann, and M. Bussmann

 

Institute of Plastics Processing (IKV) at RWTH Aachen University

Pontstraße 49, 52062 Aachen, Germany

 

Abstract

 

      The local microstructure distribution strongly affects the mechanical behaviour of semi-crystalline parts, as with all other inner properties. To create an integrative simulation process of the microstructure dependent part properties, it is essential to simulate the whole process step first and to take the local spherulite distribution into account. The crystallisation itself is dominated by the chosen process parameter. Based on this aim an online calculating software tool has been developed to compute the local spherulite growth and its distribution in moulded cross-section. The realisation, first simulation results and initial optimisations are presented in this paper.