THE EFFECT OF MATERIAL FLOW ON THE STRESS-ANALYSIS OF AN SMC COMPONENT

Recent published work concerning the manufacture of composite componen ts from compression moulded sheet moulding compound suggest that an an alysis of the compression moulding process should be performed before a structural analysis of the component. The flow of the material durin g the manufacturing process has been shown to cause significant variat ions in fibre orientation and concentration, hence effecting the resul tant mechanical properties. Commerical software is now available to an alyse the compression moulding process, however, such software represe nts another step and investment in the design-manufacture cycle. This paper studies the possible effect of material flow upon the analysis o f a composite component manufactured from sheet moulding compound. The analysis concludes that for the component considered here, the effect of the material flow was not significant.