Injection molding of glass fiber reinforced phenolic composites. 2: Study of the injection molding process

Abstract This study of injection molding of glass fiber reinforced phenolic molding compounds examines fiber breakage and fiber orientation with key material and processing variables, such as injection speed, fiber volume fraction, and the extent of resin pre‐cure. The fiber orientation, forming discrete skin‐core arrangements, is related to the divergent gate to mold geometrical transition, the extent of pre‐cure and injection speed functions of the melt viscosity. Transient modifications to the melt viscosity during mold filling produce variations in skin/core structure along the flow path, which are correlated to the mechanical properties of injection moldings. The melting characteristics of the phenolic resin during plasticization impose a severe environment of mechanical attrition on the glass fibers, which is sequentially monitored along the screw, and during subsequent flow through runners and gates of various sizes. Differences found between the processing characteristics of thermosets and thermoplastics raise questions concerning the applicability of thermoplastic injection molding concepts for thermosets.