DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO MODELING OF POLYMER FILM ORIENTATION PROCESSES

An integral part of many manufacturing processes for polymer products is the deliberate introduction of preferred molecular orientation by m eans of uniaxial or biaxial stretching. An integrated scheme is under development for the modelling of biaxial orientation processes and has been applied to the case of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) films. It consists of: experimentation under process-relevant conditions usi ng a purpose-built biaxial testing machine; development of a physicall y-based constitutive model based on the data obtained: incorporation o f the constitutive model within a Finite Element continuum model; and validation tests of the model. A first pass has been made through the complete sequence, and the application of the model to a section of th e process for production of biaxially oriented PET film has been demon strated.