Injection Moulding Asia

DOE funding for predictive engineering

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It will also support development of integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) development of advanced steel for lightweight vehicles and advanced alloy development for automotive and heavy-duty engines.

This grant is exclusively for predictive engineering of fibre length and orientation for injection moluded long fibre thermoplastic composites, where the length of the fibre before moulding is the same length as the thermoplastic pellet (approximately half of an inch) prior to being introduced into the machine. Successful applications will focus on integrating and validating predictive tools for long fibre thermoplastic carbon fibre composites. Long glass fibres may be included as model systems if the measurement of fibre length and orientation is more direct compared to that for carbon fibre; however, long carbon fibres must also be characterised and validated in the project.

Among the requirements for funding are the use of a PP or polyamide resin matrix, and application to complex 3D geometries. Minimum output variables are fibre length and orientation, and a model accuracy of better than 15% for both fibre length and orientation must be achieved. Models must also be compatible with commercially available operating systems.