Numerical and Experimental Studies of 3-Dimensional Thermoforming Process

Abstract

Two Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (ABS) polymers were thermoformed, and their behavior was compared with numerical simulation. Hot tensile and dynamic oscillatory shear tests were performed at various temperatures to characterize the polymers. Hot tensile test results were used to obtain the material parameters for simulation and to check the relative usefulness of these test parameters in the actual thermoforming process. The thickness distribution obtained from experiments was compared with simulation results. It shows that simulation results based on hyperelastic rubber like model can predict the deformation behavior of a sheet reasonably well. We could also find that the temperature sensitive polymer in hot tensile test shows more temperature sensitive thickness distribution in actual thermoforming process.

Keywords

ABS thermoforming finite element analysis

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

H.G. deLorenzi

and

C.A. Taylor

, Intern. Polymer Processing, VIII, 365 (1993).

T. Spence

and

D. Hylton

, SPE ANTEC Tech. papers, 56, 681 (1998).

G.J. Nam

H.W. Rhee

and

J.W. Lee

, SPE ANTEC Tech. papers, 56, 681 (1998).

M.S. Gadala

, Comput. Struct., 42, 1 (1992).

B. Haggblad

and

J.A. Sundberg

, Comput. Struct., 17, 835 (1983).

K.J. Bathe

, Finite Element Procedures, Prentice-Hall, New York (1996).

R.I. Tanner

, Engineering Rheology, Clarendon Press, Oxford (1985).

B. Debbaut

O. Homerin

A. Goublomme

and

N. Jivraj

, SPE ANTEC Tech. papers, 56, 784 (1998).

M.E. Ryan

and

A. Garcia-Rejon

, SPE ANTEC Tech. papers, 52, 1824 (1994).

10.

G.J. Nam

and

J.W. Lee

, The Korean J. of Rheology, 8, 215 (1996).

11.

H.G. deLorenzi

and

H.F. Nied

, J. Comp. Struct., 26, 197 (1987).

12.

H.F. Nied

and

H.G. deLorenzi

, SPE ANTEC Tech. papers, 45, 418 (1987).

13.

W.N. Song

F.A. Mirza

, and

J. Vlachopoulos

, J.Rheol., 35, 93 (1991).

14.

K. Kouba

and

I. Vlachopoulos

, SPE ANTEC Tech. papers, 50, 1314 (1992).

15.

H.F. Nied

C.A. Taylor

and

H.G. deLorenzi

, Polym. Eng. Sci., 30, 1314 (1990).

16.

H.G. deLorenzi

and

H.F. Nied

, “Finite Element Simulation of Thermoforming and Blow Molding,” in Progress in Polymer Processing, ed. by

A.I. Isayev

, Hanser Verlag, Munchen, 117 (1991).

17.

M.O. Lai

and

D.L. Holt

, J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 19, 1805 (1975).

18.

J.T. Oden

, Finite Elements of Nonlinear Continua, McGraw-Hill, New York (1972).

19.

L.R.G. Treloar

, Trans. Faraday Soc., 40, 59 (1944).