FEA Framework for Short-Fiber-Reinforced Thermoplastics with Process-Induced Anisotropic Thermomechanical Properties
- 1Department of Mechanics, Materials and Biomedical Engineering, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Smoluchowskiego 25, 50-372 Wrocław, Poland
- 2Centre of Materials Science and Metal Forming, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Łukasiewicza 5, 50-351 Wrocław, Poland
Abstract
This study presents a finite element framework for injection-molded short-fiber-reinforced thermoplastics that accounts for process-induced anisotropy, temperature, and moisture. A fully oriented material model was combined with fiber orientation tensors from injection-molding simulations to determine local orthotropic thermomechanical properties of PA66-GF30. The model employs micromechanical formulations for elasticity, strength, and thermal expansion. Matrix Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, tensile strength, and coefficient of linear thermal expansion were identified simultaneously through inverse calibration using standardized composite data. Before calibration, prediction accuracy depended strongly on property, temperature, and moisture condition, with the largest deviations occurring at 120 °C and for conditioned-state tensile strength. After calibration, the directly targeted longitudinal Young’s modulus and tensile strength agreed with their targets within ±0.4%. The non-targeted transverse modulus and tensile strength agreed with auxiliary estimates within ±5.4% and ±1.9%, respectively. For the dry-as-molded state, the directional thermal expansion coefficients agreed with their calibration targets within ±5.2%. For the conditioned state, dry-as-molded thermal expansion values were adopted as targets, and deviations remained within ±5.9%. These results demonstrate successful calibration and internal consistency, while independent validation requires directional measurements not used during identification. The framework enables practical mapping of environment-dependent anisotropic properties in structural finite element analysis.
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BibTeX
@article{bodniewicz2026framework,
title = {{FEA Framework for Short-Fiber-Reinforced Thermoplastics with Process-Induced Anisotropic Thermomechanical Properties}},
author = {Damian Bodniewicz and Mirosław Bocian},
journal = {Polymers},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.3390/polym18212768},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/18/21/2768},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - FEA Framework for Short-Fiber-Reinforced Thermoplastics with Process-Induced Anisotropic Thermomechanical Properties
AU - Damian Bodniewicz
AU - Mirosław Bocian
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/06
JO - Polymers
DO - 10.3390/polym18212768
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/18/21/2768
AB - This study presents a finite element framework for injection-molded short-fiber-reinforced thermoplastics that accounts for process-induced anisotropy, temperature, and moisture. A fully oriented material model was combined with fiber orientation tensors from injection-molding simulations to determine local orthotropic thermomechanical properties of PA66-GF30. The model employs micromechanical formulations for elasticity, strength, and thermal expansion. Matrix Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, tensile strength, and coefficient of linear thermal expansion were identified simultaneously through inverse calibration using standardized composite data. Before calibration, prediction accuracy depended strongly on property, temperature, and moisture condition, with the largest deviations occurring at 120 °C and for conditioned-state tensile strength. After calibration, the directly targeted longitudinal Young’s modulus and tensile strength agreed with their targets within ±0.4%. The non-targeted transverse modulus and tensile strength agreed with auxiliary estimates within ±5.4% and ±1.9%, respectively. For the dry-as-molded state, the directional thermal expansion coefficients agreed with their calibration targets within ±5.2%. For the conditioned state, dry-as-molded thermal expansion values were adopted as targets, and deviations remained within ±5.9%. These results demonstrate successful calibration and internal consistency, while independent validation requires directional measurements not used during identification. The framework enables practical mapping of environment-dependent anisotropic properties in structural finite element analysis.
SN - 2073-4360
ER -