A numerical study of solidification and viscous dissipation effects on polymer melt flow in plane channels

The combined effects of solidification and viscous dissipation on the hydrodynamic and thermal behavior of polymer melt flow during the injection process in a straight plane channel of constant cross section are numerically studied by considering the shear-rate and temperature-dependent viscosity and transient-phase change behavior. A numerical finite volume method, in conjunction with a modified form of the Cross constitutive equation to account for shear rate, temperature-dependent viscosity changes and a slightly modified form of the method proposed by Voller and Prakash to account for solidification of the liquid phase, is used and a validation with an analytical solution is presented for viscous heating effects. The hydrodynamic and solidified layers growth under the influence of a transient phase-change process and viscous dissipation, are analyzed for a commercial polymer melt flow, polypropylene (PP) for different parametric conditions namely, inflow velocity, polymer injection (inflow) temperature, the channel wall temperature, and the channel height. The results demonstrate that the proposed numerical formulations, including conjugate effects of viscous heating and transient-solidification on the present thermal transport process, can provide an accurate and realistic representation of polymer melt flow behavior during the injection molding process in plane channels with less simplifying assumptions