Sheet Molding Compound with highly aligned fiber reinforcement: An experimental investigation
Elias Gall, Sergej Ilinzeer, Frank Henning
Abstract. This paper presents a method for aligning chopped glass fibers during SMC production on an SMC-line, using a vibrating gate to obtain a preferential fiber orientation in the semi-finished material. The vibrating gate consisted of multiple blades with varying height and relative distance, resulting in multiple slit configurations. Processing parameters of this test setup were varied in an experimental study to determine the effects on the resulting fiber orientation. Digital image analysis was used to quantify the degree of fiber orientation in the semi-finished material, and in the molded SMC plates produced thereof. In addition to that, tensile strength and modulus were characterized in dependance of load direction following DIN EN ISO 527. Material anisotropy was also characterized with a non-destructive test method using tensile discs. It was found that the chosen process approach was suitable to achieve a preferential fiber orientation, with the blade distance being the most influential parameter on fiber alignment. Highest fiber alignment results were achieved with a configuration with 5 mm relative distance between blades: (a) A fiber fraction of 45% was achieved within 0° ± 20°, (b) in the 0° orientation, tensile strength was doubled, and modulus was increased by 55% compared to a reference SMC with random fiber distribution.
Keywords
Composites, SMC, Glass Fiber, Fiber Alignment
Published online 5/7/2025, 10 pages
Copyright © 2025 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Elias Gall, Sergej Ilinzeer, Frank Henning, Sheet Molding Compound with highly aligned fiber reinforcement: An experimental investigation, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 54, pp 497-506, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644903599-54
The article was published as article 54 of the book Material Forming
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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