During injection molding of short glass fiber reinforced composites, a
complex structure is formed due to the fiber movement. The resulting
fiber orientation can be predicted using various simulation models.
However, the models are known to have inadequacies andthe influence of
process and model parameters is not clearly and comprehensively
described. In this study, the aforementioned model and process
parameters are investigated to determine the dependencies of the
individual influences on the real and simulated fiber orientation. For
this purpose, specimens are injection molded at different process
parameters. Representative regions of the specimens are measured using
X-ray microtomography and dynamic image analysis to determine the
geometric properties of the fibers as well as their orientations.
Furthermore, simulations are performed with the simulation software
Moldflow^® using different mesh types and densities as well as
varying parameters of the MRD model to represent the real fiber
orientations. The results show that different orientation areas arise in
the samples, which cannot be represented with a simulation varying only
one parameter. Several simulations must be carried out in order to
represent flow regions occurring in the specimen as realistically as
possible.