Modelling and measurement of the fibre orientation distribution within a reinforced thermoplastic automotive clutch pedal are presented. Products have been manufactured on an injection moulding machine equipped with accurate process monitoring. The fibre orientation distributions at selected points within the pedal were measured using a fully automated, polished section/reflection microscopy image analysis system. Simulation was undertaken using commercial software with a fibre orientation prediction algorithm. The predicted fibre orientation distributions are compared with experimental results in order to assess the accuracy of the software in both thin and thick (∼5 mm) sections of the pedal.
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