CAE Modeling Static and Fatigue Performance of Short Glass Fiber Reinforced Polypropylene Coupons and Components

Fiber reinforced polypropylene (FRPP) is a typical anisotropic composite and its material properties highly depend on the fiber orientations within the material. To improve accuracy in prediction of durability performance of structures made of this kind of composite material, simulation of manufacturing process is necessary to obtain distribution of fibers and their orientations at every location of the structure. This paper describes a CAE modeling techniques to simulate 1) injection molding process, 2) static and fatigue performance of coupons and 3) static and fatigue performance of components made of 30% FRPP. Details of CAE model setup, analysis procedures and correlation between analysis and test results are presented. In this study, various fiber orientation (0, 20, 90 degrees & knit line), temperature (-40, 23 and 80 degree C) and mean stress (R=-1.0, -0.5, -0.2, 0.1 and 0.4) have been considered. To demonstrate correlation, battery trays made of this FRPP have been tested subjected to block cycle loads, results of which have been discussed.