RESUMEN
“Skin-core-skin” structure is a typical crystal morphology in injection products. Previous numerical works have rarely focused on crystal evolution; rather, they have mostly been based on the prediction of temperature distribution or crystallization kinetics. The aim of this work was to achieve the “skin-core-skin” structure and investigate the role of external flow and temperature fields on crystal morphology. Therefore, the multiscale algorithm was extended to the simulation of polymer crystallization in a pipe flow. The multiscale algorithm contains two parts: a collocated finite volume method at the macroscopic level and a morphological Monte Carlo method at the microscopic level. The SIMPLE (semi-implicit method for pressure linked equations) algorithm was used to calculate the polymeric model at the macroscopic level, while the Monte Carlo method with stochastic birth-growth process of spherulites and shish-kebabs was used at the microscopic level. Results show that our algorithm is valid to predict “skin-core-skin” structure, and the initial melt temperature and the maximum velocity of melt at the inlet mainly affects the morphology of shish-kebabs.
RESUMEN
Polymer crystallization in manufacturing is a process where quiescent crystallization and flow-induced crystallization coexists, and heat/mass transfer on a macroscopic level interacts with crystal morphology evolution on a microscopic level. Previous numerical studies on polymer crystallization are mostly concentrated at a single scale; they only calculate macroscale parameters, e.g., temperature and relative crystallinity, or they only predict microstructure details, e.g., crystal morphology and mean size of crystals. The multi-scale numerical works that overcome these disadvantages are unfortunately based on quiescent crystallization, in which flow effects are neglected. The objective of this work is to build up a macro-micro model and a macro-micro algorithm to consider both the thermal and flow effects on the crystallization. Our macro-micro model couples two parts: mass and heat transfer of polymeric flow at the macroscopic level, and nucleation and growth of spherulites and shish-kebabs at the microscopic level. Our macro-micro algorithm is a hybrid finite volume/Monte Carlo method, in which the finite volume method is used at the macroscopic level to calculate the flow and temperature fields, while the Monte Carlo method is used at the microscopic level to capture the development of spherulites and shish-kebabs. The macro-micro model and the macro-micro algorithm are applied to simulate polymer crystallization in Couette flow. The effects of shear rate, shear time, and wall temperature on the crystal morphology and crystallization kinetics are also discussed.
