Abstract
In the production of injection-moulded parts, the formation of weld lines is usually unavoidable. These often represent mechanical weaknesses. Currently, however, there are no methods available to parts designers that allow a reliable design of plastics parts while taking account of the mechanical influence of the weld line. A calculation routine for the prediction of weld line strength in unreinforced thermoplastic parts therefore has been developed at the Institute of Plastics Processing (IKV) in Industry and the Skilled Crafts at RWTH Aachen University, Germany. In this routine, a reduction factor for the material strength of the weld lines is calculated based on process data generated in injection-moulding simulations for use in structural simulations. The calculation is based on a physical model of molecular interdiffusion, which has been empirically expanded and calibrated on the basis of experimentally determined data.
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