Investigation of fiber breakage phenomena for different fiber types in injection molding

The lightweight technologies become the driving force for people in automotives and other developments in recent years. Among those technologies, using short and long fiber-reinforced thermoplastics (FRT) to replace some metal components can reduce the weight of an automotive significantly. However, the microstructures of fiber inside plastic matrix are too complicated to manage and control during the injection molding through the screw, the runner, the gate, and then into the cavity. In this study, we have integrated the screw plastification, to injection molding for fiber microstructures investigation. Specifically, we have paid our attention on fiber breakage prediction during screw plastification. Results show that fiber breakage is strongly dependent on screw design and operation. When the screw geometry changes, the fiber breakage can be higher even if the compression ratio is lower. Moreover, the fiber breakage phenomena for two types of fibers (glass fiber and carbon fiber) are also investigated. It shows that carbon fiber is easier to be broken. Also the carbon fiber length distribution has higher peak at the exit of the screw.