Computer modeling of isothermal crystallization in short fiber reinforced composites

Computer modeling and simulation for the isothermal crystallization of short fiber reinforced composites with athermal nucleation is presented. The "pixel coloring" technique which is capable of capturing the morphology evolution and calculating the crystallization kinetics is implemented. A parametric study is used to explore the influences of fibers on the crystallization in the reinforced system. The results indicate that the fibers depress the crystallization rate when compared to that of neat polymers or accelerate the crystallization rate by providing nucleation sites. The constraining effect is mainly dependent on fiber content while the enhancing effect is mainly determined by fiber surface and fiber nucleation density. Fiber orientation has almost no effect on the crystallization kinetics but changes the ultimate morphology. Fiber length and fiber diameter have different influences on crystallization kinetics and mean size of spherulites. Results show that fiber diameter affects the crystallization much more than that of fiber length. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.