Effects of fiber length distribution on flow property and internal microstructure of an injection molded part

Internal microstructures of micro-injection molded connectors were investigated to figure out the relationship between flow properties in the micro-channel and fiber length distributions (FLD). Micro-CT and image processing techniques were performed to convert the images obtained by Micro-CT into 3D structures and visualize the fiber length distributions. It was verified by both experimental and numerical analyses that the fiber length distribution affects significantly the processability and flowability of the composite melt for injection molding of microconnectors since a large amount of glass fibers within the material worsen the rheological properties and long fibers hinder flowability at narrow junctions and micro scale channels.