DEVELOPMENT OF FREE-EDGE EFFECT DURING PROCESSING OF SEMICRYSTALLINE THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITES

The residual thermal stresses developed during processing of fiber-reinforced semicrystalline thermoplastic composites are strongly affected by variations in temperature and degree of crystallinity within a laminate. A model which enables the prediction of the temperature and volume fraction crystallinity distributions over the cross-sectional area of these laminates during processing from the melt is presented. In this study, emphasis is on the prediction of temperature and crystallinity gradients in the vicinity of free edges. Results are shown for the case of unidirectional APC-2 laminates for different surface cooling rates.