3D thermo-chemical-mechanical analysis of the pultrusion process

In the present study, a 3D Eulerian thermo-chemical analysis is sequentially coupled with a 3D Lagrangian quasi static mechanical analysis of the pultrusion process. The temperature and degree of cure profiles at the steady state are first calculated in the thermo-chemical analysis. In the mechanical analysis, the developments of the process induced stresses and distortions during the process are predicted using the already obtained temperature and degree of cure profiles together with the glass transition temperature.

The predictions of the transverse transient stresses and distortions are found to be similar as compared to the available data in the literature. Using the proposed 3D mechanical analysis, different mechanical behaviour is obtained for the longitudinal stress development as distinct from the stress development in the transverse directions.

Even though the matrix material is in a liquid state before entering the die (the degree of cure is zero), it is found that there exists longitudinal stresses at the mid-section which indicates that the already pulled material has an effect on the longitudinal stress evolution even before entering the die.