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International Journal of Crashworthiness

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Dynamic characterization of polymers to improve

numerical simulations for passive safety
G Spingler , P Drazetic & E Markiewicz
a
Visteon Systèmes Interieurs – Centre Technique, Rue Léon Duhamel, BP 87, 62440
Harnes, France
b
Laboratory of Industrial and Human Automation, Mechanics and Computer Science
LAMIH - UMR CNRS 8530, University of Valenciennes, Le Mont Houy, 59313 Valenciennes
Cedex 9, France
c
Laboratory of Industrial and Human Automation, Mechanics and Computer Science
LAMIH - UMR CNRS 8530, University of Valenciennes, Le Mont Houy, 59313 Valenciennes
Cedex 9, France
Published online: 08 Jul 2010.

To cite this article: G Spingler , P Drazetic & E Markiewicz (2005) Dynamic characterization of polymers to improve
numerical simulations for passive safety, International Journal of Crashworthiness, 10:1, 87-101, DOI: 10.1533/
ijcr.2005.0328

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 Dynamic characterization of polymers to
improve numerical simulations for passive
safety
doi:10.1533/ijcr.2005.0328
G Spingler*, P Drazetic** and E Markiewicz**
*Visteon Systèmes Interieurs – Centre Technique, Rue Léon Duhamel, BP 87, 62440 Harnes, France.
gspingle@visteon.com
**Laboratory of Industrial and Human Automation, Mechanics and Computer Science LAMIH - UMR
CNRS 8530, University of Valenciennes, Le Mont Houy, 59313 Valenciennes Cedex 9, France.
pascal.drazetic@univ-valenciennes.fr
Downloaded by [University of Windsor] at 01:51 19 November 2014

Abstract: The increasing complexity of interior vehicle design means that more powerful finite element
models are needed to simulate the crash behaviour of dashboards, door panels and even trim panels.
The knowledge of the behaviour of structural components is essential for their design optimisation.
Constitutive models describe their material behaviour in finite element codes. The models are in
relation with material parameters, which have to be determined. An inverse numerical approach
using the results of experimental dynamic tests of polymer samples has therefore been developed to
determine these parameters. This inverse method is used to identify the parameters of G’Sell’s law
taking self-heating and mould flow direction into account. The thermal influence on the mechanical
behaviour is studied. The influence of the anisotropy due to the direction of the flow during the
filling of the mould is discussed too. The results are compared with the results obtained by classical
dynamic uniaxial tensile tests and dart tests. The methodology allows to obtain predictive laws of
polymer with dynamic tensile tests for crash simulation improvement.
Key words: Automobile safety, crash, polymer behaviour, numerical optimization, constitutive models.

NOTATIONS INTRODUCTION

σ : true stress For several years, car manufacturers have worked to improve
ε : plastic strain passive safety to reduce occupant’s injuries during a crash.
ε̇ : plastic strain rate This improvement consists in building cars that offer a
K : material consistency maximal capability to absorb kinetic energy produced
w : viscoelastic parameter during the shock without involving a high level of
h : strain hardening coefficient deceleration of the occupants. These two opposite
h1 : first strain hardening coefficient preoccupations lead to design structure and to optimise
h2 : second strain hardening coefficient its deformation, and to design new systems that gradually
m : strain rate hardening exponent absorb the energy without modifying the cockpit. European
β : thermal dependency coefficient regulations were established for behaviour of cars under
T : temperature impact loading validation. Car manufacturers need to
perform experimental tests to identify the behaviour of
each component. They product components with the safety
Corresponding Author: notion with ECE21 regulation on instrument panels or
Pascal Drazetic FMVSS201 regulation on trim panels. These components
Université de Valenciennes are made of steel, aluminium, polymers, and so on. For
LAMIH/DRC UMR CNRS 8530 car suppliers, as VISTEON, the behaviour of polymers
Crashworthiness Modelling and Test
Le Mont Houy Jonas 2 under multiaxial loading must be known. G’Sell [1]
59313 Valenciennes Cedex 9, France developed a law of behaviour for polymers and authors
Tel: +33 (0)3 27 51 13 83 Fax: +33 (0)3 27 51 13 17 like Billon [2, 3], Bisilliat [4] and Tillier [5] identified the
Email: pascal.drazetic@univ-valenciennes.fr parameters of G’Sell’s law on the basis of tensile, multiaxial

© Woodhead Publishing Ltd 0328 87 IJCrash 2005 Vol. 10 No. 1 pp. 87–101
 G Spingler, P Drazetic and E Markiewicz
or torsion tests on samples. For each kind of loading, they
proved that the identified law of behaviour is different
and the simulation of an industrial case is considered too
difficult. Gopez [6] applied the same methodology on the
basis of shear tests on samples. Two other authors, Nimmer
[7] and Tervoort [8], directly worked on a typical range of
strain to identify the behaviour of polymer; large strain
for Nimmer’s paper and viscoelasticity in Tervoort’s study
but did not apply their results on an industrial part. Then,
in bibliography, no process of characterization of polymers
for crash application into an industrial project exists. The
background sums up the current methodology used for
identification of laws of behaviour based on experimental
tests realized with samples. A comparison of the numerical
responses of simulations realized with laws obtained with
this methodology and the experimental response of an
industrial part is shown. This study proposes a new
methodology of dynamic characterization of a
Downloaded by [University of Windsor] at 01:51 19 November 2014
polypropylene (PP), used in instrument panel injection
moulding, for crash application. Physical phenomena as
heat and anisotropy are discussed. It improves numerical
prediction of finite elements simulations on Pam-CrashTM
using G’Sell laws [1, 9].
BACKGROUND
The main method of material characterization for supplying
FE models consists in realizing several uniaxial tensile
tests. Samples are tested from quasi-static to dynamic
velocities at different temperatures. The use of quasi-
static tensile machine and hydraulic jack is needed to obtain
a large range of strain rates (10–4 s–1 to 150 s–1). By
simulating the tensile test, an inverse method is then
employed to identify the parameters of a material behaviour
4500
4000
3500
3000
2500
Force (N)
2000
1500
1000
500
0
0 0.002 0.004 0.006
Displacement (m)
Figure 1 Comparison between the experimental response of dart test on a plate at 23°C and 1 m/s, and the simulation
using the tensile law.
IJCrash 2005 Vol. 10 No. 1
law [10, 11]. The tensile law is then obtained and a validation
of this law consists in simulating the behaviour of a structure
made of the same material. Figure 1 illustrates, for a dart
test (multiaxial loading) on a plate made of PP, the
comparison of the experimental response with the FE
numerical response using the identified tensile law.
It can be seen that the tensile law is unable to reproduce
the behaviour of this polymer under an impact loading
combining multiple loadings. In fact, the tensile law is
obtained from an uniaxial test and is unable to predict the
behaviour of this polymer loaded with multiaxial loading.
Authors like Billon [2, 3], Bisilliat [4], Tillier [5], propose
a method of polymer material characterisation that is based
on dart tests. The parameters of mathematical laws are
identified with a numerical simulation of the experimental
dart test for velocities from 1 m/s to 10 m/s. That
corresponds to a range of strain rates from 10 to 500 s-1.
The multiaxial law, named impact law, is obtained and is
supposed to reproduce correctly the behaviour of the tested
material under multiaxial loading on any structure. The
scheme of the optimisation method is presented on
Figure 2.
This methodology is applied by the present authors
and the same conclusion is found with the tensile law.
The impact law is identified as described in Figure 2 but
no validation of this law of behaviour is shown.
For industrial partners, the behaviour law, identified
on samples, has to be validated on a component that
represents the behaviour of instrument panels, door panels
and so on. The gutter, represented in Figure 3 is chosen
because it represents the global stiffness of an instrument
panel and allows tensile and flexural loadings. With
VISTEON experience, it is known that a behaviour
correctly predicted on the gutter entails good prediction
Experimental response
Numerical simulation
0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0.016
88 doi:10.1533/ijcr.2005.0328 © Woodhead Publishing Ltd
 Dynamic characterization of polymers to improve numerical simulations for passive safety

Dynamic tensile tests

Identification of of behaviour for high plastic strain and high strain rates.
parameters of the law The second validation test is a ECE 21 test on the gutter
to check the accuracy of the numerical simulation for law
Dynamic tensile law plastic strain and high strain rates. In fact, this latest test
Simulation of dart
tests with dynamic allows to cover flexural solicitations and to validate the
No
tensile law law of behaviour to insure good prediction on instrument
panels during a crash.
The aim of the study is to reproduce the behaviour of
Identification of the material under impact loading on the gutter from
Dart tests on plates
parameters of the law
0.01 m/s to 6 m/s, which respectively corresponds to
approximately 0.1 to 300 s–1 strain rates under the dart.
Dynamic impact law
Dart tests on the gutter are realized with a hydraulic jack
at 100 mm to the centre (Figure 3). If a good methodology
is used, a behaviour law identified on basic experimental
Figure 2 Identification process for each kind of loading. tests should be able to predict the behaviour on the gutter.
To point the difficulty of finding a relevant methodology,
two numerical simulations of dart test on the gutter at
of ECE 21 test on instrument panel. That is the reason 1 m/s and 23°C are shown on Figure 4. The first simulation,
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why, to cover low plastic strain to high plastic strain until with the identified dynamical tensile law, and the second
500 s–1 strain rates, two validation tests are used. The first simulation, with the identified dynamical impact law, is
one is a dart test on a gutter to validate the identified law compared to the experimental response.

525 mm
75 mm

190 mm

Figure 3 Geometry of the gutter and visualisation of the multiaxial test.

3600
Simulation with tensile law
3300 Experimental response
3000 Simulation with impact law

2700

2400

2100
Force (N)

1800

1500

1200

900

600

300

0
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03 0.035 0.04 0.045 0.05
Displacement (m)

Figure 4 Comparison between the experimental response of dart test at 23°C and 1 m/s and the 2 simulations using the
tensile law and the impact law.

© Woodhead Publishing Ltd doi:10.1533/ijcr.2005.0328 89 IJCrash 2005 Vol. 10 No. 1

 G Spingler, P Drazetic and E Markiewicz
The two laws are unable to reproduce the behaviour of
the gutter under impact loading. The tensile law
overestimates the force level after a 10 mm displacement
of the dart whereas the impact law underestimates the
force level from the beginning of the dart deflection. There
are many reasons to explain such differences:
• Not the same loadings;
• Thermal difference during loadings;
• Not the same strain rate range;
• No taking the gradient of property (anisotropy during
the filling of the mould) into account.
The objective of the study consists in finding a behaviour
law for the PP that is able to predict the behaviour of a
structure from low to high strains and for the range of
strain rate that we meet. The methodology proposed here
consists in identifying the parameters of a behaviour law
on dynamic tensile tests. This law has to be able to
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reproduce the behaviour of the material on dynamic dart
tests both on a plate and the gutter. The improvement of
prediction of the polypropylene behaviour on finite element
code is discussed in taking, on one hand, the self-heating
of the material during its deformation, and on the other
hand, the anisotropy of material due to mould flow into
account. Indeed, a tensile test at 1 m/s shows an increase
in temperature by 5 to 10°C whereas a dart test on a plate
at the same velocity shows an increase in temperature by
50°C. Moreover, an injected structure shows several
directions of the mould flow that make the behaviour of
the PP dependant. In the last step, a coupling between
self-heating and anisotropy of the material is presented.
MODEL
To simulate the behaviour of materials, it is possible to
enter several responses of experimental tests into the FE
code. These responses are obtained from the experimental
basic tests that represent the behaviour of the polymer
under a typical loading [12]. However, it is better to
represent the behaviour of a material with a mathematical
law. This law must be adjusted with a limited number of
parameters. A bibliographical review relates several
multiplicative behaviour laws that link the stress σ with
both the strain ε and the strain rate ε̇ [13]. These laws,
issued from metallic studies, mainly describe the plastic
behaviour of materials. They can hardly reproduce the
hardening of polymers with a good accuracy. Indeed, the
hardening rate dσ/dε of polymers is different from metals
one. For polymer characterisation, more specific laws exist
to better represent the behaviour at high plastic strain
and high plastic strain rate [2, 4, 5, 12].
The formulation given by the Eqn. (1) was proposed
by G’Sell’s [14] to study the tensile behaviour of high
density polyethylene (HDPE), polycarbonate (PC), and
polystyrene (PS).
It is a phenomenological law that allows to reproduce
the behaviour of numerous polymers and lots of
IJCrash 2005 Vol. 10 No. 1
formulations based on Eqn. (1) exist. The term that
represents the hardening of the material is similar to that
of Gopez [6] apart from the value of the strain that is
squared. It allows a better description of the hardening
observed on tensile test:
å2
σ = K exp β/Τ ⋅ (1 – exp –wε ) ⋅ e h ⋅ ε˙ m [1]
where K is the material consistency, mainly responsible
for yield stress level, β is the thermal dependency
coefficient, w is the viscoelastic parameter, h is the strain
hardening coefficient, m is the strain rate hardening
exponent, and ε̇ the plastic strain rate.
Tillier [5] proposed to modify the hardening term
(Eqn. 2) to better suit the behaviour of PP for high plastic
strains.
σ = K exp β/T ⋅ (1 – exp –wε ) ⋅ (1 + h1 ε + h 2 ε 2 ) ⋅ ε˙ m
[2]
where h1 is the first strain hardening coefficient and h2
the second hardening coefficient.
All the parts of the true stress – true strain curve can
be precisely described by this law. This formulation is
implemented into the Pam-CrashTM FE code [15] where
K is replacing the term K expβ/T. An inverse method
using Pam-OptTM [16] allows to identify the parameters
of G’Sell’s law.
METHODOLOGY
The following methodology hinges on two points. Firstly,
the heat effect of the material during the loading is taken
into account. Secondly, the effect of the anisotropy due to
the mould flow during the filling of the mould is discussed.
Then, a coupling between the auto-heating of the polymer
and the anisotropy is shown.
Heat
The difference of behaviour between uniaxial tensile
loading and multiaxial loading is now explained. Heat and
anisotropy are detailed: the self-heating of the materials
during plastic strains can modify the properties during
the test, and a study about the direction of the mould
flow is a key to understand strain mechanisms.
In the previous studies, no self-heating of polymers is
taken into account in the numerical simulation. G’Sell’s
law is considered isotherm. During an experimental test,
the temperature of a sample, for example dart test on
plate, increases a lot for high plastic strain and high plastic
strain rates. Studies led by Bisilliat [4] and by Tillier [5]
show that the parameter K is directly affected by an increase
in temperature. The more the temperature increases, the
lower is K. The effect of the temperature on the parameter
K is shown on Figure 5.
K changes the result of the simulation of dart test: it is
a key value in G’Sell’s law.
The methodology consists in realising dynamic tensile
tests at different external temperature to capture the
behaviour of the PP. An identification of the parameters
90 doi:10.1533/ijcr.2005.0328 © Woodhead Publishing Ltd
 Dynamic characterization of polymers to improve numerical simulations for passive safety

4500
K = 30 MPa
K = 20 MPa
4000
K = 10 MPa

3500

3000
Force (N)

2500

2000
K decreases
1500

1000

500

0
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0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0.016

Displacement (m)

Figure 5 Sensitiveness of K parameter to the temperature on simulations of dart tests on plates at 1 m/s.

of G’Sell’s law lead to an isotherm numerical law for each
temperature. For multiaxial loading, the increase in
temperature due to self-heating of the material during
the test is likened to the interpolated external temperature
of the tensile test. It is considered that the self-heating of
the material during the test has the same consequences as
the effect of the external temperature on the behaviour of
the material. In fact, into the finite element code, the self-
heating of the material is ranked as a dynamic tensile test
temperature.
A dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) is
done to propose four test temperatures: 23°C, 40°C, 80°C
and 110°C. To take the effect of external temperature into
account, tensile tests at different temperatures are realized.
They lead to an identified isotherm dynamic law for each
temperature. Two velocities for loading are necessary,
1 m/s and 3 m/s corresponding respectively to 40 s–1 to
120 s –1 plastic strain rates, to correctly identify the
parameter m apart from the parameter K of G’Sell’s law.
The responses of experimental tests are shown Figure 6.

1200
3 m/s
1100 1 m/s

1000

900

800

700
23°C
Force (N)

600

40°C
500

400
80°C
300

110°C
200

100

0
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03 0.035 0.04
Displacement (m)

Figure 6 Experimental responses of dynamic tensile tests at 1 m/s and 3 m/s from 23°C to 110°C.

© Woodhead Publishing Ltd doi:10.1533/ijcr.2005.0328 91 IJCrash 2005 Vol. 10 No. 1

 G Spingler, P Drazetic and E Markiewicz

The influence of temperature is shown. The increase Table 1 Values of the parameters of G’Sell’s law for
in temperature leads to a lower force level and a higher each temperature
displacement: the behaviour of the material becomes
rubbery. The effect of plastic strain rate is checked from Parameters 23°C 40°C 80°C 110°C
23°C to 110°C, by a 10% increase in force level from w 466 319 217 130
40 s–1 to 120 s–1. K (e+07 Pa.sm) 2.5719 2.064 1.405 0.9385
Identifications using an inverse method (Figure 7) allow h1 0.43 0.4 0.386 0.494
to find the parameters of G’Sell’s law for each temperature. h2 0.45 0.45 0.4 0.54
The mathematical optimiser Pam-OptTM [16] was used m 0.0729 0.0721 0.0724 0.0716
in order to determine the w, K, h1, h2 and m parameters
of the phenomenological G’Sell’s law. This optimiser
identifies the optimal parameters which minimize the tests and the self-heating of the material under multiaxial
objective function in the admissible domain. It uses the loading can be evaluated by simulating a dart test on a
augmented Lagrangian function which is derived from plate at 23°C and 1 m/s. The thermal conductivity used
the objective function, and constraint functions to find is equal to 0.17 J.s–1.m–1.K–1 and the specific heat of the
local minima in an iterative fashion. The algorithm is PP is 2000 J.kg–1.K–1. In fact, for each time step, the
used to minimize the objective function. The calculation increase in temperature due to self-heating is associated
of gradients, which are calculated by a finite difference, to an interpolation of external temperature of the tensile
Downloaded by [University of Windsor] at 01:51 19 November 2014

determine the sensitivity. For an optimisation with i
parameters, Pam-OptTM performs i+1 iterations using the
right finite difference.
G’Sell’s law is a phenomenological law. Then, the
parameters of the law are sensitive on different parts of
the stress-strain curve (Figure 8). The process of
identification is led in a way that keeps the intrinsic value
of each parameter. To prove the phenomenological aspect
of G’Sell’s law, a study on the sensitiveness of parameters
is shown on Figure 8.
The identification of the parameters of the behaviour
law, using the gradient algorithms, consists in reducing
the square norm of the difference of the experimental
and numerical curves. Each tensile test is considered
isotherm because it is a very quick test in which the self-
heating of the material is negligible to the external
temperature. Moreover, there is no friction with an
impactor. The numerical curves are compared to
experimental responses on Figure 9 and the values of
identified parameters are presented on Table 1.
The parameters K and w are directly affected by the
temperature value. The parameters h1, h2 and m are quite
constant. The increase in temperature shows a decrease
in stress level. The stress-strain behaviour laws are
presented on Figure 10.
The behaviour laws of the material for temperature
range from 23°C to 110°C is known with uniaxial tensile
test. The friction between the dart and the material is
considered to be negligible because a lubrificant is used.
The result of the simulation of dart test is compared to
the experimental response and to the curve obtained with
isothermal law on Figure 11.
The result of the simulation with the law that takes
self-heating into account is better than the result obtained
with the isothermal law. After 4 mm deflection,
corresponding to a mean plastic strain of 0.4 under the
dart, the self-heating of the material appears and the
numerical curve is closer to the experimental response.
The following views (Figure 12) show the self-heating of
the PP for a simulation at 23°C and 1 m/s.
Locally under the dart, the self-heating of the material
is about 50°C for a 15 mm deflection, corresponding to a
mean plastic strain of 1.75. This leads to a stress value of
46 Mpa instead of 85 Mpa in case of isotherm law at
23°C.
The laws of behaviour that take the heat effect into
account for dart test simulation reduce the initial error by
about 50% for large strain and high strain rates. As a
conclusion, thermal laws improve the prediction of
numerical simulations.
Material anisotropy
Physical properties of polymers are directly linked to the
injection process. The anisotropy of the material is due to

Experimental Experimental
Sample
test response Solution

Yes
Comparison
No
Numerical model Numerical
Simulation
with initial response Optimisation of
parameters parameters

Figure 7 Identification algorithm.

IJCrash 2005 Vol. 10 No. 1 92 doi:10.1533/ijcr.2005.0328 © Woodhead Publishing Ltd

 Dynamic characterization of polymers to improve numerical simulations for passive safety

900
Stress
800

700
h2
600

Force (N)
h1
K 500
m
400

300
w = 1000
w 200 w = 467
w = 100
100

0
Strain 0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014
Displacement (m)

900 900
800 800
Downloaded by [University of Windsor] at 01:51 19 November 2014

700 700

600 Force (N)

600
500 500
Force (N)

400 400
300 300
K = 30 MPa m = 0.12
200 K = 25 Mpa 200 m = 0.073
K = 20 MPa m = 0.02
100 100
0 0
0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014
Displacement (m) Displacement (m)

900 900
800 800
700 700
600 600
500 500
Force (N)

Force (N)

400 400
300 300
h1 = 1 h2 = 1
200 h1 = 0.4 200 h2 = 0.45
h1 = 0.1 h2 = 0.1
100 100
0 0
0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014
Displacement (m) Displacement (m)

Figure 8 Sensitiveness of parameters of G’Sell’s law.

the direction of the flow during the filling of the mould
and it modifies the behaviour of the samples. For example,
the gutter is mould with one injection point located in the
centre. Samples are taken from zone 1 and zone 2 (Figure
13) and video static tensile tests are realized. The results
are shown on Figure 14.
We notice that the shape of the law is not modified. In
fact, the stress level decreases by 15% for the samples
taken in zone 1.
A study on MoldflowTM about the kinematics of the
flow during the filling of the mould is needed to understand
the difference of behaviour observed on samples.
Figure 15 shows a difference of the direction of the
flow in the two zones. Indeed, the direction of the flow is
parallel to the axis of the sample in zone 2 and is
perpendicular to the axis of the sample in zone 1.
The material anisotropy is surely not only due to the
flow direction. Injection parameters like pressure, velocity
of the flow, or even the difference of temperature of the
mould during the filling can modify mechanical properties

© Woodhead Publishing Ltd doi:10.1533/ijcr.2005.0328 93 IJCrash 2005 Vol. 10 No. 1

 G Spingler, P Drazetic and E Markiewicz

1200

1100 exp
num
1000

900

800

700 23°C
600
Force (N)

40°C
500

400
80°C
300
110°C
200

100
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0
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03 0.035 0.04
Displacement (m)

Figure 9 Visualisation of identified numerical curves.

130
23°C
120
40°C
110 80°C
110°C
100

90
True stress (MPa)

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
True strain

Figure 10 Visualisation of the true stress – true strain curves for each temperature.

at different locations of a component. In fact, locally on
the gutter, these injection parameters are different in zone
1 and in zone 2.
In order to dismiss the influence of injection parameters
compared to the influence of the flow direction, a further
study on samples is now led to check if the effect is present
for a controlled and homogeneous flow direction. Samples
for uniaxial tensile tests are taken out of an injected plate
(100 × 100 mm). Figure 16 presents the way to take the
samples out of the plate. The injection point is located on
a side of the plate and the anisotropy due to the orientation
of the molten polymer is underlined (Figure 17).
No sample cavity is made in the mould; they are drawn
to make the understanding easier. The direction of the
flow is controlled in the whole sample: 0° ± 5°, and 90° ±
5°.
Figure 18 represents the surface of the plates. It
highlights the effect of the mould flow direction: it is
marked by the orientation of the matter (like fibbers),
which is responsible for the anisotropy.
Dynamic tensile tests are now realized at 23°C and
1 m/s with the two kinds of samples. Five tests are realized
for each kind of sample to insure of the reproducibility of
the tests. The mean experimental force-displacement
responses are presented on Figure 19.
The experimental results show a decrease in force level
by 15% for the samples taken perpendicularly to the
direction of the flow. It confirms the results found with

IJCrash 2005 Vol. 10 No. 1 94 doi:10.1533/ijcr.2005.0328 © Woodhead Publishing Ltd

 Dynamic characterization of polymers to improve numerical simulations for passive safety

4500
Experimental response
4000 Simulation with heat
Simulation without heat

3500

3000
Force (N)

2500

2000

1500

1000

500
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0
0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0.016
Displacement (m)

Figure 11 Comparison between the experimental response of dart test at 23°C and 1 m/s and the simulations with and
without self-heating.

10 mm

23.1
25.83
28.56
31.29
34.03
36.76
39.49
42.22
44.95
5 mm deflection. 10 mm deflection. 47.68
50.42
53.15
55.88
58.61
61.34
64.07
66.81
69.54
72.27
75

15 mm deflection.

Figure 12 Visualisation of self-heating of the PP under dart test simulation at 1 m/s.

video static tensile tests on samples taken out of the gutter.
The direction of the mould flow is a second key to
properties modification of the PP. This effect, for both
quasi-static and dynamic tensile tests at 23°C, is a 15%
difference or thereabouts of force level.
This difference is partly responsible for the inability
of tensile law identified on experimental tests realized
with samples parallel to the direction of the flow to predict
the behaviour of material under multiple loadings.
A comparison between materials demonstrates that the
failure profile attests the anisotropy due to the mould
flow direction. The sides of the gutter, after dart tests, are

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 G Spingler, P Drazetic and E Markiewicz

Injection point shown Figure 20. Failure follows the direction of the mould
flow for more than 90% of the samples. It bespeaks the
difference of mechanical properties.
The next step consists in identifying the behaviour law
directly on experimental dynamic tensile tests realized
with samples perpendicular to the direction of the flow. A
preliminary sensitive study on parameters shows that the
Zone 2
only free parameter needed in the optimisation process is
Zone 1 K; the most sensitive to stress level. The result of the
optimisation is presented in Table 2, and the identification
demonstrates a decrease in parameter K by 16.4% between
Figure 13 Visualisation of the 2 zones. the two directions of the moulding flow.

14

12
Zone 2
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10
True stress (Mpa)

8
Zone 1

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
True strain

Figure 14 Experimental responses of video quasi-static tensile tests for the 2 kinds of samples ( ε̇ = 5.10–3s–1).

10 mm

Zone 1

Zone 1
Zone 2

End of the filling at 1.922 seconds

Zone 2

Figure 15 Visualisation of the direction of the mould flow for zone 1 and zone 2.

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 Dynamic characterization of polymers to improve numerical simulations for passive safety

25 mm

The filling is parallel to the axis of The filling is perpendicular to the

the samples axis of the samples

Figure 16 Visualisation of the filling of the mould.

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25 mm

Direction of the mould flow parallel to the Direction of the mould flow perpendicular to the
axis of the samples axis of the samples

Figure 17 Visualisation of the direction of the mould flow when the mould is filled up.

With the previous law obtained from dynamic tensile

1 mm tests, a simulation of dart test on plate at 1 m/s and 23°C
is realized again. In fact, the anisotropy of materials is
taken into account by introducing the K value of 2.15 107
Pa.sm. The result is shown on Figure 21.
The initial error is reduced by about 60% for large
plastic strains (1.7) and high strain rates (150 s–1). Then,
the behaviour law identified on dynamic tensile tests should
be based on samples taken perpendicularly (90°) to the
direction of the mould flow.
Coupling “Heat + Material anisotropy”
As a last step, a coupling between self-heating and
anisotropy of the material is realized. It is supposed that
Figure 18 Surface of the PP, Microscope X 25. the effect of anisotropy is the same for each temperature.

© Woodhead Publishing Ltd doi:10.1533/ijcr.2005.0328 97 IJCrash 2005 Vol. 10 No. 1

 G Spingler, P Drazetic and E Markiewicz

1200
Sample axis parallel to the direction of the flow
1100
Sample axis perpendicular to the direction of the flow
1000

900

800

700
Force (N)

600

500

400

300

200

100
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0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Displacement (mm)

Figure 19 Experimental responses of dynamic tensile tests at 1 m/s (40 s–1) on the 2 kinds of samples.

Orientation of the mould flow

Failure of PP Failure of ABS/PC

Figure 20 Visualisation of failure main direction of side of the gutter after dart tests.

4500

4000

3500

3000
Force (N)

2500

2000

1500

1000 Experimental response

Simulation with K = 2.15e + 7 Pa
500 Simulation with K = 2.57e + 7 Pa

0
0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0.016
Displacement (m)

Figure 21 Comparison between the experimental responses of dart test at 23°C and 1 m/s and the simulations with and
without anisotropy.

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 Dynamic characterization of polymers to improve numerical simulations for passive safety

Table 2 Values of identified parameters A checking is led on Figure 23 on dart tests at 3 m/s
and 10 m/s, which correspond respectively to 400 s–1 and
Parameters 0° 90° 1000 s–1, to insure the robustness of the model.
w 466 466 We notice that the numerical error is lower than 7%.
K (e+07 Pa.sm) 2.57 2.15 This methodology has now to be validated on a part that
h1 0.43 0.43 represents an industrial component: the gutter. The results
h2 0.45 0.45 of FE simulations of dart tests on the gutter for velocities
m 0.0729 0.0729 from 0.01 m/s to 6 m/s are compared to the experimental
responses Figure 24. The experimental deformed shape
of the gutter under impact loading is compared with the
A constant 16.4% decrease is applied on each parameter numerical deformed shape Figure 25.
K identified on dynamic tensile tests with samples parallel The behaviour of the gutter is correctly predicted since
to the direction of the flow. The coupling law is then built the maximal error is about 8% for a 40 mm deflection of
with the parameters presented in Table 3. the dart test at 6 m/s.

Table 3 Values of the parameters of G’Sell’s laws taking CONCLUSIONS

self-heating and anisotropy into account The difference of behaviour between tensile loading and
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Parameters 23°C 40°C 80°C 110°C

multiaxial loading points on the interest to take self-heating
and anisotropy of the material into account into FE
w 466 319 217 130 numerical models. Indeed, the simulation of a dart test
K (e+07 Pa.sm) 2.15 1.73 1.18 0.785 using a behaviour law that takes self-heating into account
h1 0.43 0.4 0.386 0.494 results to a decrease in the prediction error by 40 to 50%
h2 0.45 0.45 0.4 0.54 for high plastic strain (0 to 1.8) and high plastic strain
m 0.0729 0.0729 0.0729 0.0729 rates (10–4s–1 to 1000 s–1). The same conclusion is found
when the anisotropy due to the mould flow is taken into
The G’Sell’s law identified on the basis of dynamic account. As a conclusion, polymers have not got the same
tensile tests, taking self-heating and material anisotropy mechanical properties for different points of a component.
into account, is now able to predict the behaviour of the G’Sell’s parameters identified by the proposed
material under multiaxial loading (Figure 22). The initial methodology allows reproducing the behaviour of polymers
error is reduced by 95% both on low plastic strain (0.4) under multiaxial loading. The coupling “self-heating +
and high plastic strain (1.7) at high strain rates (20 s–1 to material anisotropy” gives good results. The numerical
150 s–1). error for multiaxial loading is lower than 8% whatever

4500

4000

3500

3000
Force (N)

2500

2000

1500

1000
Experimental response
500 Simulation without neither heat nor anisotropy
Simulation with heat and amisobopy
0
0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0.016
Displacement (m)

Figure 22 Comparison between the experimental response of dart test at 23°C and 1 m/s and the simulations with and
without self-heating + material anisotropy.

© Woodhead Publishing Ltd doi:10.1533/ijcr.2005.0328 99 IJCrash 2005 Vol. 10 No. 1

 G Spingler, P Drazetic and E Markiewicz

4000

10 m/s
3500

3 m/s
3000
1 m/s

2500
Force (N)

2000

1500

1000

500 exp
num
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0
0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0.016
Displacement (m)

Figure 23 Comparison between the experimental response of dart test at 23°C and 1 m/s, 3 m/s and 10 m/s, and the
simulations taking self-heating and material anisotropy into account.

3600
3300 exp
num
3000 6 m/s
2700
2400
1 m/s
Force (N)

2100
1800 0.01 m/s
1500
1200
900
600
300
0
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03 0.035 0.04 0.045 0.05
Displacement (m)

Figure 24 Comparison between the experimental response of dart test on the gutter at 23°C and 0.01 m/s, 1 m/s and
6 m/s, and the simulations taking self-heating and material anisotropy into account.

Numerical deformed shape

Experimental deformed shape

Figure 25 Comparison between experimental and numerical deformed shapes.

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 Dynamic characterization of polymers to improve numerical simulations for passive safety
the component is. The methodology allows either to extend
the use of the behaviour law to other temperatures or to
reduce the cost of experimental tests. It contributes to
improve the representativeness of finite elements code in
term of behaviour of structure for passive safety.
All the conclusions tend to propose an orthotropic
elastothermoviscoplastic numerical model based on G’Sell’s
law, as a scientific solution. The behaviour of structures is
now correctly simulated for both zones that do not overheat
and zones that show auto heating during loadings. The
next step consists in taking damage mechanism into account
to predict failure of components.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors wish to thank both Professor N. Billon from
CEMEF and Mr J. Fabis from ONERA for the information
given which significantly contributed to the achievement
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of this work. They are grateful to ESI for the FE Pam-
CrashTM code and the Pam-OptTM mathematical optimiser.
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