ANALYSIS OF THE NON-VISCOUS FLOW EFFECT IN LIQUID MOLDING PROCESS

Non-viscous flow effect in liquid molding processes has been analyzed and evaluated. Ergun equation is used to describe the non-viscous flow through fibrous media. Overall flow resistance of the fibrous media is considered as the summation of the viscous inertial components. The generalized permeability of the fibrous media is found to be not only a function of the structural parameters such as fiber diameter and porosity, but also related to the fluid properties and flow velocity. Two-dimensional mold filling flow equation has been established. In order to evaluate the magnitude of the non-viscous flow effect in various process conditions, solutions of simplified one-dimensional filling flow cases are discussed. Parametric study with numerical simulations has been carried out to assess the non-viscous flow effect on the filling time and the inlet fluid pressure.