| Abstract: | The mold filling process has been modeled for the injection molding of different polymer-based binders and powder-polymer mixtures. It is essentially a two dimensional non-Newtonian fluid flow analysis in a non-isothermal environment. A complete analysis is accomplished by combining a finite element method and control volume technique to describe an increment of flow front movement, whereas a finite difference method is used to solve the energy equation to characterize the temperature distribution. Numerical results are compared to exact solutions for a circular ring cavity using a power law fluid model under an isothermal condition. Comparison of computed results against published data for a simple circular disk shows good agreement between the two analysis methods. After making selected comparison studies, it is demonstrated that the filling process in Powder Injection Modeling with different combination of powder-polymer mixtures is markedly dependent on specific combinations of powder; and polymer based binders. Computed flow front results for a rectangular cavity also compared favorably against the data for a power law fluid model under non-isothermal conditions. |
