3-DIMENSIONAL FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF THE COMPRESSION MOLDING OF SHEET MOLDING COMPOUND

In order to analyze the compression molding of SMC (sheet molding comp ound) at room temperature, a three-dimensional finite-element program was developed based on the rigid-viscoplastic approach. The accuracy o f the program developed was tested by solving the axi-symmetric compre ssion of a cylindrical specimen of SMC and the three-dimensional compr ession of rectangular specimens of aluminum alloys under various proce ssing conditions. The simulation results compared well with experiment al results obtained from compression tests and with data available in the literature. Based on these comparisons the program was proven to b e valid and was further applied in the simulation of the compression m olding of rectangular SMC specimens to investigate the effect of frict ion and molding speeds on the propagation of the flow front of the mat erial and the load requirements in the present investigation. By coupl ing part of the program with thermal analysis, the currently-developed analysis program can be utilized in determining detailed information during three-dimensional deformation processes. (C) 1997 Elsevier Scie nce S.A.