pps proceeding - Abstract Preview
pps proceeding
Symposium: G13 - Polymer foams
Oral Presentation
 
 

Optimizing Process Condition of PU Chemical Foaming: From Material Properties to Numerical Simulation

Wang Joe (1)*, Sun Tober (1)

(1) CoreTech System, Moldex3D - Chupei City, Hsinchu County - Taiwan

We present in this study the latest advancements in PU foaming simulation technology by simultaneously considering the two competing major reactions governing PU chemical foaming, namely, the foaming reaction between isocyanate and water, and curing reaction between isocyanate and polyol. It has known that these two reactions possess different reaction kinetics. For a realistic PU chemical simulation, it’s crucial to have separate rate equations describing foaming and curing reactions. In the first part of this study, we demonstrated an accurate measurement of PU reaction properties by employing FOAMAT 285, a universal foam qualification system. It tracks important physical parameters during foam formation such as foam rise height, reaction temperature, rise pressure, curing and viscosity. The measured foam physical parameters then are fitted using suitable material models, and used in PU chemical foaming simulation to obtain optimal process conditions during foam formation. The study demonstrates promising results, and is of great importance to light weighting application. We anticipate that in turn, this should reduce the product-to-market cycle time by eliminating the need for the traditional-trail-error method. Keywords: PU Chemical Foaming, Curing Kinetics and Foaming Kinetics, Curing Viscosity, Simulation, Process Related Defects