Engineering analysis of reaction injection molding process of epoxy resin

Abstract An engineering analysis of reaction injection molding (RIM) process of epoxy resin was carried out through numerical simulation and actual experiment. In order to simulate the RIM process, and reaction kinetics and the viscosity function of the epoxy system were obtained from thermal analysis and rheological measurement, and the balance equations of the chemical species, momentum, and energy within a mold cavity were set up in cylindrical coordinates. As the result of the simulation, the temperature and conversion profiles within a disc type mold were obtained and a moldability analysis was made to find the optimum molding conditions. The temperature change during the curing reaction, at a fixed point within the mold cavity, was measured through the actual RIM experiment on a small scale, and was compared with the simulated results.