The effects of polymer melt rheology on the replication of surface microstructures in isothermal moulding

Numerical flow calculations were performed using the Lagrangian Integral Method where the fluid is described by a molecular stress function (MSF) constitutive model. The numerical modelling of the flow was performed on two length scales, at a macro-level describing the flow between the mould plates and at a micro-level describing the flow into the structure. The information from the macro-level was passed to the micro- level as an applied local boundary condition.