Material Characterization of Compression Molded Composites
Abstract
Composite materials are widely used in the automotive industry to keep cost and weight down. The ability to simulate the fabrication of parts is an important way to use resources effectively. The molding process can also have very dramatic effects on material properties. These properties are determined by the microstructure of the polymer composite material, including the length, concentration, and orientation of the fibers used as reinforcement. Therefore this study seeks to characterize the material properties of a long glass fiber reinforced polyamide composite, the effects of molding conditions on those material properties, and characterization of the microstructure of the polymer composite under different processing conditions. It was found that material flow affects fiber orientation, including simple geometry changes, and that this material had an inherent fiber alignment from the initial state. Fiber length and concentration throughout the polymer composite part was found to be very consistent under all processing conditions investigated.