🎓Description of the time- and temperature-dependent material behaviour of polymer materials for the simulation of shrinkage and warping in blow-moulded hollow plastic bodies

Extrusion blow moulding is one of the most economical processes for manufacturing thin-walled hollow plastic bodies, such as bottles, canisters or fuel tanks. After manufacture, cooling under moulding pressure causes shrinkage and distortion of the components. These undesirable deviations from the ideal geometry continue to pose a major problem for the blow moulding industry. In cooperation with the Dr. Reinold Hagen Foundation, doctoral student Patrick Michels is working on the simulative prediction of material shrinkage and the associated component distortion. The focus of the doctoral project is the identification and calibration of a suitable material law to describe the complex time-, temperature- and process-dependent material behaviour of the polymer materials used. The improved models for shrinkage and distortion analysis will then be integrated into the standard CAE workflow for blow-moulded hollow plastic bodies.