Application and CAE Simulation of Over Molded Short and Continuous Fiber Thermoplastic Composites, Part I

Short Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastics (SFRT) such as glass filled Polyamide 6 and 66 have been widely adopted as a metal replacement in a wide range of industries. The main advantage of using these materials is high strength to weight ratio, light weight, parts consolidation, easy manufacturability etc. Continuous Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastics (CFRT) are also gaining popularity because of its ability to achieve high directional stiffness/strength by tailoring the number of layers and angles. Applications which combine these two by over molding SFRT on CFRT inserts are still in its infancy. One of the hurdles is the lack of good CAE simulation capability for such applications. This paper describes the CAE tools that are developed using LS-DYNA to successfully model static and dynamic behavior of such parts. Material 58 in LS-DYNA is used for modeling the CFRT material while a User Defined Material Law models the SFRT material and they are coupled together through suitable contact definitions. Its applicability is verified through a number of examples varying from very simple to complex configurations