Abstract
Forthe thermoforming of polymers, the heating is a very timely and crucial process. The most common method of heating polymers is radiative heating. During such heating conditions, the polymer surfaces are subjected to tremendous heat fluxes. This results in significant temperature gradients throughout the polymer sheet cross section. Hence, a model to describe and predict the heating process is needed. T his paper focuses on the finite element technique and how it can be implemented for predicting polymer heating rates and temperature profiles throughout the cross section. The first part of the paper focuses briefly on the theory behind finite element modeling, while the latter part of the paper looks at the heating aspects of polymers.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.