Injection molding of short coir fiber polypropylene biocomposites: Prediction of the mold filling phase

The mold‐filling phase in injection molding is the most important one because the material flow behavior controls the final part structure. In this work, the effect of melt rheology on the flow front progression of coir fiber (2.5, 5, 10, and 15 wt%) filled polypropylene is investigated. The flow behavior is predicted using the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations to determine the flow front shape and position and the model proposed is in good agreement with the experimental results for the range of conditions studied. Finally, to provide a better understanding of the effect of different processing conditions (pressure, melt, and mold temperature) on the flow front evolution, several simulations were performed using Autodesk Moldflow Insight. POLYM. COMPOS., 40:4042–4055, 2019. © 2019 Society of Plastics Engineers