Modelling and simulation of moving interfaces in gas-assisted injection moulding process

The mathematical models of gas–liquid two-phase flow are introduced, in which the multi-mode eXtended Pom–Pom (XPP) model is selected to predict the viscoelastic behavior of polymer melt. The gas-penetration process is simulated using Level Set/SIMPLEC methods, which can capture the moving interfaces at different time, including the gas–melt interface and the melt front. The physical features such as velocity, temperature and elasticity are described at different time. The influences of gas delay time and injection pressure on gas-penetration time and penetration length are analyzed. The numerical results show that the Level Set/SIMPLEC methods can precisely trace the two moving interfaces in gas-penetration process, the fractional coverage increases at very low Deborah numbers, while at higher Deborah numbers the fractional coverage decreases, and the penetration length is affected significantly by gas delay time and injection pressure.