SIMULATION FRAMEWORK FOR

PROCESSING-STRUCTURE-PROPERTY
INTERRELATIONSHIPS IN
THERMOFORMING

A Postgraduate Project Report submitted to

Manipal Academy of Higher Education
in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of the degree of

MASTER OF TECHNOLOGY
in
Computer Aided Analysis and Design

Submitted by

VISHNU YADAV C V
(Reg. No. 210977005)
II Year MTech (CAAD)

Under the guidance of

Amol Avhad Ratnesh Khandelwal Dr. Kirana Kumara P

Sr. Scientist Lead Scientist, PE&D Assistant Professor (Senior Scale)
SABIC Research and Technology Pvt Ltd Manipal Institute of Technology

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL AND INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

July 2023
i
 DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL AND INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

Manipal
06-09-2023

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project titled SIMULATION FRAMEWORK FOR

PROCESSING-STRUCTURE-PROPERTY INTERRELATIONSHIPS IN
THERMOFORMING is a record of the bonafide work done by VISHNU YADAV C V (Reg.
No. 210977005) submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Degree
of Master of Technology (MTech) in COMPUTER AIDED ANALYSIS AND DESIGN of
Manipal Institute of Technology Manipal, Karnataka, (A Constituent College of Manipal
Academy of Higher Education), during the academic year 2022-23.

Dr. Kirana Kumara P Prof. Dr. S S SHARMA

Assistant Professor(Senior Scale) HOD, Mech. & Ind. Engg.
M.I.T, MANIPAL M.I.T, MANIPAL
Project Guide

ii
(On company letter head)

<Place>
<Date>

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project entitled SIMULATION FRAMEWORK FOR

PROCESSING-STRUCTURE-PROPERTY INTER-RELATIOSHIPS IN
THERMOFORMING was carried out by VISHNU YADAV C V (Reg. No. 210977005) at
SABIC Research and Technology, Bengaluru under my guidance during August, 2022 to
June, 2023.

Supervisor Name
Designation,
Organisation Name, City

iii
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The successful accomplishment of the work would be incomplete without mentioning the
people who supported and guided me throughout my ten months of internship.

First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to Manipal Institute of Technology for
providing me the opportunity to intern at SABIC Research & Technology Pvt. Ltd. in the
Predictive Engineering & Design team, as a part of partial fulfilment of Masters of Technology
degree. I would like to thank my manager Dr. Bhaskar Patham and my mentors Mr. Amol
Avhad and Dr. Ratnesh Khandelwal for constantly helping me progress and provide insights
on the process and structural aspects related to my project. I am thankful to Mr. Mukunda
Madhava Nath and Mr. Raghavendra Janiwarad for helping me in understanding concepts
related to the project. I am also thankful to Mr. Chandrashekhar L for helping me generating
structural material data information. I also thank Mr. Nagaraj Dhadesugur for assisting me
in the process material data generation and Mr. Kantaraj for assisting in lab related works.

I am thankful to Dr. S. S. Sharma, Head, Department of Mechanical and Industrial

Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, MAHE, Manipal for their cooperation during
the project work.

I would like to express my sincere thanks to my internal guide Dr. Kirana Kumara P,
Assistant Professor Senior Scale, Dept. of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, MIT for his
guidance and constant support through the project.

iv
 ABSTRACT

Use of polymers in various industries against the conventional materials such as glass, metals
and wood is increasing because of their unique properties. They have a low density, good
thermal/insulation properties, inherent toughness, lubricity and higher strength/stiffness to
weight ratio and are cost efficient. In addition, for a given application, the properties of a
polymer can be enhanced by additives or combining different types of polymers. Polymer is
processed by different methods for making a finished products or parts. These include;
extrusion, injection moulding, blow moulding, compression moulding and thermoforming.
Among them, thermoforming is one of the important processing method widely used in
automotive, aerospace, building & construction, and medical industries to make different
applications.

Manufacturing and optimization of the products or parts by thermoforming is widely carried

out using experimental trial and error, which can be very expensive. Computer-Aided-
Engineering (CAE) can be a useful tool to simulate the thermoforming process as well as the
part performance tests required for a given application. Simulations can effectively compliment
and substitute the experiments and help in arriving at robust material, design and processing
conditions to produce parts that can meet final application requirements.

This work focuses on developing a simulation framework to interrelate thermoforming

processing and structural performance parameters. Specifically, a processing simulation is
developed using commercially available software, TSIM® to understand the forming of the part
and final thickness distribution using SABIC® Polypropylene material. The material model
parameters are estimated by characterizing the material for low amplitude oscillatory shear and
extensional viscosity measurements and fitting this data to get multi-mode relaxation spectra.
Further, the coupled structural models are developed for stack load test and drop test
incorporating the variable thickness distribution predicted from thermoforming simulation.
This way, a methodology has been established to model and couple the processing and
structural simulations that would be employed to optimize a thermoformed part to meet its
application requirements.

Keywords: Polymers, Thermoforming, Process Simulation, Structural Simulation, Drop test,

Stack load test, Optimization.

v
 LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS

Symbol/ Representation of symbol / Expansion of abbreviation Page No.

Abbreviation
(Unit)
𝐶𝑡̿ −1 Finger strain tensor 25
0
𝜇 Memory function 25
CAE Computer-Aided-Engineering 5
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamics 14
CG Center of gravity 42
DOF Degrees of freedom 42
DSC Differential Scanning Calorimetry 21
Fcr critical (Euler) buckling load 26
FEA Finite Element Analysis 14
gi, i Prony series constants 25
h Damping function 25
Imin minimal moment of inertia 26
K-BKZ Kaye-Bernstein-Kearsley-Zapas 14
KMN Tangent stiffness matrix 25
l Arc length 26
PC3D single nodded continuum particle element 27
PP Polypropylene 18
Ps Polystyrene 18
R3D3 3-noded rigid body elements 42
S3 3-noded triangular shell element with reduced integration 42
SPH Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics 20
UTM Universal testing machine 21
VM Non-trivial displacement 25
𝐸 Youngs Modulus 11
𝜀 Strain 11
𝜎 Stress 11

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 LIST OF TABLES

Table No. Table Title Page No.

3.1 Damage Initiation Card for SABIC® PP 19
4.1 Relaxation Spectra of SABIC® PP 25
4.2 WLF Parameters 25
4.3 Properties of SABIC® PP 26
4.4 Tool Temperature, Heat transfer and Friction Coefficient 27
5.1 Riks Result of Model 40

vii
 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure No. Figure Title Page No.

1.1 Basic Representation of Stress-strain Behaviour of Polymer 1

1.2 Products Manufactured by Thermoforming Process 2
1.3 Schematic of Typical Thermoforming Process 3
3.1 Universal Testing Machine 11
Purely Viscous and Elastic Polymer Material Response to the
3.5 12
Deformation
3.6 Viscoelastic Polymer Material Response to the Deformation 12
3.7 Extensional Rheometer 13
3.8 Rheological Testing Machine 13
3.9 Stress Triaxillity 19
3.10 Stress Strain Curve with Progressive Damage Degradation 20
4.1 Low Amplitude Oscillatory Shear Measurement 22
4.2 Extensional Viscosity data 23
4.3 Stress-Strain Data from UTM 23
Fitting of Storage and Loss Moduli for Linear Viscoelastic
4.4 25
Relaxation Spectrum
Fitting of Extensional Viscosity for Damping Parameters
4.5 26
Estimation
4.6 SABIC® PP Material Card for Processing Simulation 27
4.7 The tool and plug design 27
4.8 Meshed Part Geometry with R-trias Elements in HyperWorks 28
4.9 Sheet of Triangular Elements 28
4.10 Schematic of Tool and Plug Position used in Process Simulation 30
4.11 Pressure and Tool Position as a Function of Time 30
4.12 Steps for Thickness Extraction from Processing Simulation 32
4.13 Mapped Thickness Distribution along the Thermoformed Part 32
4.14 Average Stress-Strain Curve for SABIC® PP 33
4.15 Boundary Conditions for Stack Load Test 33
4.16 Drop Testing Simulation 34
5.1 Schematic of Part Formation at Different Stages 36
a) Thickness Contour of the Thermoformed Part
5.2 37
b) Variation of Thickness along the Part Cross-section X-X
Contour of L1/L2 Ratio of the Part Thickness Variation across the
5.3 3.8
Arc Length in X-axis
5.4 Contour of Stress Profile the Thermoformed Part 38
5.5 3 Eigen Modes while buckling 39
5.6 Displacement and Stress Components along the Part 40
5.7 Displacement x Reaction Force 40
5.8 DUCTCRT and SDEG Contours in the Part 41
5.9 Stress Contour of the Part after the Drop 42

viii
 CONTENTS
Page No
Abstract
List of Symbols and
Abbreviations
List of tables
List of Figures

1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Polymer processing 2
1.2 Process simulation 3
1.3 Structural simulation 4
1.4 Motivation for the Project 5
1.5 Problem Definition 5
1.6 Objectives 5
1.7 Project Work Schedule 6
1.8 Organization of the Project Report 6

2 LITERATURE REVIEW 8

3 BACKGROUND THEORY 11
3.1 Material Characterization 11
3.2 Material Models 16

4 METHODOLOGY 22
4.1 Material Characterization 22
4.2 Processing Simulation 26
4.3 Structural Simulation 30

5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 36

5.1 Process Simulation Results 36
5.2 Stack Load Test Simulation 38
5.3 Drop Test Simulation 40

6 CONCLUSION 42

7 FUTURE SCOPE OF WORK 43

REFERENCES 44
 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Most important feature of polymers are their inherent toughness and resistant to fracture but
basically polymers are macromolecules, which are of viscoelastic nature and there is a
nonlinearity in deformation when stress is being applied to it. Polymers mechanical properties
for example like the type of deformation that is elastic or plastic depends on the strain on the
material, at low strain it is elastic and homogeneous resulting in the appearance of original
shape and size with the removal of the load. Here stress (𝜎) is directly proportional to strain
(𝜀):

Stress (𝜎) = Constant (𝐸) x Strain (𝜀)

Here E is the tensile (or Young's) modulus of the plastic which is a measure of the stiffness of
the material. This relationship is known has Hooke's law.

Polymers exhibit a wide range of stress-strain behaviours as shown in the figure below

Fig 1.1: Basic Representation of Stress Strain Behaviour of Polymer [1]

Figure represents various behaviour of different types of plastic. A simple brittle plastic will
undergo some amount of deformation and fails indefinitely but a ductile plastic shows a
characteristic yield point and after yield point the strength of the plastic will be reduced,
therefore the plastic will fail at lower stress but higher strain. This behaviour is called plastic
deformation. Figure shows some of the plastic material which has high plasticity, where the
1
material fails at higher stress. This is called “strain hardening”. This behaviour is seen in
materials where the polymer chains are oriented and aligned characteristically in the load
direction, increasing strength and stiffness along the stretch direction. Amorphous polymers
exhibit strain softening, which is the reverse of strain hardening.

1.1 Polymer processing

Polymers is used extensively in various applications. Polymers can be converted into products
with several different manufacturing process such as extrusion, injection moulding, film
blowing or casting, blow moulding, fibre spinning, foaming and thermoforming. Before
subjecting these polymers to various manufacturing methods, these polymers has to be
processed.

Processing of thermoplastic polymers is a thermo-mechanical process that involves three basic

steps:

• Melting of polymer granules or pellets with application of heat and/or friction to produce
homogenous melt.
• Flow of the molten polymer through a die or into a mould.
• Solidification into the final component shape and form.

After processing, the polymer is subjected to any one of the manufacturing methods which was
discussed above. Here we will discuss about Thermoforming.

Fig 1.2: Products Manufactured by Thermoforming Process

Thermoforming is widely employed for production of large polymeric parts with medium to
low volumes. Thermoformed products have been used in a variety of industries including the
packaging, transportation, appliance industry, horticulture, recreation, photographic equipment
and funeral industries. It is a common goal among thermoforming manufacturers to produce
useful and desirable products that are sellable.

2
 Fig 1.3: Schematic of Typical Thermoforming Process

The general steps associated with thermoforming of any part geometry are given schematically
in Figure 1.3. The polymer is melted and extruded forming a flat sheet. The sheet is then dried
and heated above its softening temperature using heat and pressure in a radiation furnace. The
sheet is subsequently stretched to the desired shape and trimmed to form the finished part.

Thermoforming is a process where the temperature aspects play a very important role. As the
sheet is heated up to softening temperature before the application of profile, understanding the
variation of temperature with respect to time is crucial.

The hot sheet is at certain forming temperature. As the process starts, first step is compression
of the sheet to the mould surface. Here the temperature drops as sheet touches the relatively
cold mould surface. The second step is consolidation. Here pressure is applied which is maybe
up to high as 10 bar to avoid voids and irregularities that maybe caused during forming. Here
the sheet or part temperature is cooled down to the mould temperature with the passing of the
time. After this the formed part is taken out and cooled down in the room temperature through
free convection

A variety of thermoforming process configurations can be employed based on maybe the type
of mould (core, cavity, or multi-part), mould material (wood, composite, aluminium etc.),
application of force to stretch the sheet (vacuum, air pressure, mechanical aids like plugs, and
combinations thereof) or the way of material feeding (roll fed or cut sheet). Some of the
thermoforming process are vacuum, pressure and plug assisted thermoforming processes.

In vacuum thermoforming, one of the most common thermoforming technologies, vacuum

removes air between the sheet and mould, and draws the sheet into the mould cavity to form
the final part. In the pressure forming process, heated sheet is forced into the die using
3
compressed air. In plug-assist vacuum forming, a plug forces the sheet into the mould cavity,
preforming the sheet, while the vacuum then pulls the sheet into direct contact with the mould,
lending the final shape to the part. More complex thermoforming process configurations such
as twin sheet forming may also be employed for production of hollow parts

Parameters involved in thermoforming:

In developing applications and components involving thermoformed parts, several

considerations come into play, some of them are

1. Choice of the type of thermoforming process

2. Thickness distribution in the formed part
3. Material Selection
4. Precursor sheet thickness
5. Forming process parameters
6. Part Design

Considering all these parameters and optimizing each one based on the functionalities of the
product is hectic and carried out using experimental trial and error, which can be very
expensive, especially for large parts.

1.2 Processing Simulation

With recent advancements in finite element analysis (FEA) and complex computational fluid
dynamics (CFD) simulation methodologies, simulations may be effectively used to screen and
optimize the complex and interacting set of parameters as above.

Simulation of thermoforming process is done in TSIM software. TSIM is a processing

simulation tool which allows screening of the parameter and optimization of the same. TSIM
provides simulation and optimization capability for vacuum, pressure or twin sheet forming.
TSIM employs the Kaye-Bernstein – Kearsley - Zapas (K-BKZ) constitutive equation, which
offers an accurate and detailed description of the nonlinear rheological behaviour of the melt
including normal stresses, shear thinning, and extensional strain hardening.

1.3 Structural Simulation

After the completion of the process simulation the thermoformed product will be undergoing
structural analysis, some of the tests that are conducted under structural analysis is listed below
and are briefly explained in the theoretical background section.

4
Drop Test: In reality, the product may be subjected to rough handling where the product is
dropped unintentionally. Therefore, drop test is done to check if the product withstands the
drop at certain height.

Stack Load Test: The product will be stacked one above the other while packaging or while
transporting. This test is done to check if the product withstands a load of 4 or 5 times the
weight of it, which is applied on top of the product.

The major goal of this research is to develop the analysis methodology and replicate the
experimental tests required for thermoformed items to receive the required certification.
Additionally, it proposes an optimal parametric condition, which will save money and time.

1.4 Motivation for the Project

Polymers have their applications in industries like packaging, automotive, construction and
textiles etc. Most of these applications uses thermoforming as their primary manufacturing
process. Computer-aided-engineering (CAE) can be a useful tool to simulate the manufacturing
process along with performance tests and come up with the optimum part level thickness
distribution for a given application based on its functional requirements. Available open
literature in this area focus either on thermoforming process simulation or on structural
performance for thermoformed model without connecting these two. Generation of a
framework for connecting these two and optimizing it is much needed.

1.5 Problem Definition

In developing applications and components involving thermoformed parts, material, design,

and processing considerations come into play, like thermoforming process type, material
selection, part design, processing conditions etc. The optimization of these parameters and
variables are widely carried out using experimental trial and error, which can be very
expensive, especially for large parts.

Simulations, on the other hand, may be effectively used to screen and optimize these complex
and interacting set of parameters. At present, these is lack of robust and validated simulation
framework that can be applied to optimize the thermoforming process and produce high quality
part for a given application.

The scope of this project is to find the inter-relationship between structural analysis and process
analysis which helps in optimizing the parameters for the thermoforming process, thereby
reducing the experimental time and to cut off the experimental cost.

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1.6 Objectives
• To develop a framework for design and optimization of a thermoformed part using
commercially available software.
• To develop parameterization of the material through fitting a material model and
characterization using different material tests.
• To develop a processing simulation considering the parameters in the material model.
• To subject the part model extracted from process simulation to part performance
simulations for top load and drop tests.

1.7 Project Work Schedule

Phase Work Status

• Literature survey on thermoforming process and

simulations
• Understanding of the material models for processing and
Phase 1 performance simulation Completed
• Understanding of the material characterization
• Thermoforming lab visit
• Hands-on learning of the software related to the project
like T-SIM, Hypermesh, Abaqus.

• Material model and parameterization

Phase 2 • Processing simulation for Yogurt cup geometry Completed
• Extraction of the thickness distribution for linkage to
performance simulation

• FEM modelling of the thermoformed product

Phase 3 • Stack Load test Completed
• Drop impact test
• Result analysis

1.8 Organization of the Project Report

Chapter-1: Introduction

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It includes the basic explanation of polymers and their stress strain diagram. Among various
polymer processing techniques used for making the plastics parts, a thermoforming process is
discussed in details. Later, basics of processing simulation and structural simulation is
described.

Chapter-2: Literature Review and Background Theory

This section talks about the available literature in the area of thermoforming simulations,
including material modelling and parameterization, processing as well as performance
simulations. The theoretical background of the various mechanical and rheological tests
required for developing material models for simulation is explained later.

Chapter-3: Methodology

This chapter describes in details the material modelling, simulation set-ups, and boundary
conditions for both, processing and performance simulations as well as the coupling between
the two.

Chapter-4: Result analysis

This chapter summarizes the results from both, thermoforming and structural simulations
including the important observations from them.

Chapter-5: Conclusion and Future Scope of Work

Finally, the project conclusions are presented in this chapter & future scope of the project is
briefly described.

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 CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW

In thermoforming process, there are many material, design and process parameters that govern
the quality of the final part being produced. We know that the optimization of these parameters
is generally carried out using experimental trials and errors, which is time consuming and
costly. Therefore, simulations can be used to effectively screen and optimize these parameters
to produce high quality part. Developing a simulation framework which comprises of
processing and performance simulations is a multi-step process. It includes rheological
characterization, material modelling and then developing simulations for processing and
performance and finally the coupling of them to optimize the part. Rheological characterization
is important to understand the processability of polymers. Amorphous materials like ABS and
PS have a balance of viscous and elastic properties over a wide temperature window above
glass-transition temperature that is suited to thermoforming. On the other hand, semi-
crystalline materials like PP have a narrow temperature window above melting point due to
low melt strength and low elasticity that makes thermoforming difficult [2]. There are different
ways that melt strength and elasticity of PP can be increased. Ghasemi et al. [3], have discussed
about improving elasticity of PP by blending it with high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and
ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM). Their results confirmed the overall improvement
in the thermoforming ability of PP because of the blending. An approach to enhance the
extensional resistance of the PP melt [6] is also shown in [4, 5] where long chain branching is
introduced on the PP to increase its melt strength.

Material modelling and parameterization is next step towards development of robust simulation
methodology. A good quality rheological measurements are critical to parameterize melt
rheological constitutive equations. These parameters of the constitutive models employed to
describe flow and deformation behaviour of polymers in simulations. There are broadly two
types of constitutive models available to simulate polymer flows, generalized-Newtonian
models and viscoelastic models. Generalized-Newtonian models are relatively simple
representations of polymeric fluids and do not account for the polymer’s elastic behaviour.
Some of the widely used Generalized-Newtonian models include Power law model, Cross law
model and Bird-Carreau model [7, 8]. Viscoelastic models, on the other hand, account for
viscoelastic flow of polymers. There are many commercially available viscoelastic models.
The differential viscoelastic models includes Maxwell, Oldroyd, Phan-Thien-Tanner,
Giesekus, FENE-P, POM-POM and Leonov [9, 10], while the integral viscoelastic models are
K-BKZ [11] and Doi-Edwards [12, 13]. A variety of tools are commercially available to
parameterize these models like POLYFLOW [14], Star-CCM+ [15] and TSIM® FIT [16].

8
These models can be used to simulate polymer processing conditions ranging from extrusion,
die-flow, blow moulding, thermoforming and fibre spinning.

As thermoforming process is dominated by extensional deformation behaviour, purely elastic

or viscous models do not describe the process precisely. A non-linear and time-dependant
viscoelastic behaviour of the polymeric material needs to be considered [17]. The authors
performed tests which produces deformations similar to those appearing in thermoforming
process. They simulated these tests repeatedly with differential material parameters and
estimated parameters with minimum sum-of-squares of difference between experimental and
simulated values. Raina et al., [18] have developed excel tools for determination of the
viscoelastic prony series constants and the damping function parameters required to
parameterize KBK-Z model. Cha et al., 2020 [19] carried out various rheological
measurements of the nonlinear viscoelasticity of the ABS polymer and used these
measurements to estimate KBKZ model parameters.

For thermoforming processing simulations, Kueppers and Michaeli [20] have simulated the
sheet thinning using the theory of membrane deformation and explicit finite differences. The
thickness distribution of the explicit finite differences showed correlation to the measured
thickness profile of asymmetric parts but it has failed to solve shearing and bending condition
in complex geometries because of the limitation of explicit finite differences. People like
Ogden and Sato [21] consider their work using the finite element approach to stretch
membranes to be the forerunner of modern thermoforming simulations. They developed a
governing equation to model the stretching and inflation of rubber-like membranes using a
finite element framework for membrane stretching using an expression for the Lagrangian
strain tensor and the typical membrane theory presumptions. To predict the feasibility
conditions of the prepreg composite forming, Wang et al., 2013 [22] considered multi-layered
CFRTP (Continuous Fibre Reinforced Thermoplastics) to explain the importance of numerical
simulation in his study as the CFRTP is advantageous when considered cycle time and
recyclability through numerical simulation analysis. An accuracy range of sheet thickness for
the membrane analysis is given for a three-dimensional solid element analysis and the
membrane approximated analysis in [23] by discovering that the two analyses above behaved
identically when the sheet thickness was thin and diverged increasingly as the sheet thickness
rose.

Three-dimensional finite elements were used in a promising simulation of thermoforming and

blow moulding work [24]. The governing equation, which states that the rate of rise of internal
energy equals the rate of work done by the external forces, was solved using their three-
dimensional model using three-nodded triangular finite elements and form functions. Both
9
Mooney-Rivlin and Ogden types of constitutive laws were used. The relationship between the
stress-strain behaviour of the material and the constitutive equation, Mooney-Rivlin or neo-
Hookean, was utilised. If we exempt viscoelastic material behaviour of the simulated polymer,
the theory and assumptions made by Kouba and Vlachopoulos [25] on thermoforming
simulation using three nodded triangular finite elements and Nied et al., 1990 [24] are same.

The effect of a product's mould type on the variation in wall thickness was covered by the
author in [26]. He created and tested plug and cavity moulds that produced identical parts in
his research. Because material has a lower draw ratio, plug shaped moulds often have superior
wall homogeneity. However, compared to using cavity moulds, plug moulds have unique issues
with part release and webbing. The author went on to note that the lab exercises are a great way
for designers to verify how mould type affects wall thickness.

Performance simulations for various tests like top load and drop impact test can give insights
if a formed part would be able to meet the structural requirements of an application. However,
for these structural simulations, an actual thickness distribution from a formed part needs to
be considered to produce more precise results. Prus C. et al., 2017 [27] worked on the
simulation of elastic fuel tank reinforced with a polymer exoskeleton. This simulation was
carried on aiming to reduce the mass of the fuel tank which can be used in aerospace
application while having structural integrity. They kept a height of 20 m for the drop test,
where all calculations were done in HyperWorks 13.0. The main insights of this study are the
modelling of fluid and air inside the tank by means of smoothed-particle hydrodynamics
elements (SPH). Hegde N. L. [28] worked on simulation based analysis to optimize the 20L
Jerrycan weight with an enhanced performance. The authors subjected the Jerrycan to top load
and drop test for its performance evaluation. Stacking test simulations on ‘98% brim-full
capacity liquid filled’ Jerrycan were conducted using Linear Eigen value method as well as
non-linear RIKS method on both original and modified pre-conditioned Jerrycan models at
40oC. Simulation of 1.8m drop impact for ‘98% brim-full capacity liquid filled’ Plastic
Jerrycan was conducted using ABAQUS dynamic nonlinear explicit solver. Simulation was
conducted at room temperature on 3mm uniform thickness Jerrycan model. Sloshing effect
during impact was studied using SPH modelling of liquid [29]. Khandelwal et al. [30], looked
into the blow molding simulation value chain for both process and performance, considering
Industrial container as a case study. This simulation value chain helped in optimizing the
extruded parison along with process parameters for the required performance

To summarize, it is clear from the existing literature that various rheological tests are used as
an input to parameterize different material models available for processing and performance
simulations. The choice of a material model really depends on what degree of accuracy one
10
wants to account the polymer behavior for. The available commercial softwares can be used
to estimate the model parameters and further simulate either processing or performance step.
The processing simulations are being used to optimize either material, design or processing
parameters to produce a good quality thermoformed part. Performance simulations, on the
other hand, are used to optimize the mechanical behavior of a formed application. However,
focus of the existing literature is carrying out the processing or structural simulations
independent of each other. The coupling between both of these steps is missing. A thickness
or stress distribution obtained from processing simulation can be taken as an input to the
performance simulation to evaluate if the produced part can meet the mechanical requirements
or not. On the other hand, the performance simulations can give inputs to the processing
simulation about the ideal thickness profile required for the application and vice a versa.
Therefore, by coupling processing and performance simulations, one can produce a good
quality thermoformed part that could also meet the application requirements. The present
study is an attempt to develop this coupling of the processing and performance simulations for
a thermoformed application.

11
 CHAPTER 3
BACKGROUND THEORY

Polymers used for various applications are processed at elevated temperatures in molten state.
At these temperatures polymers exhibit a complex flow and deformation behaviour - showing
both viscous and elastic properties. Therefore, many tests like tensile test, dynamic mechanical
analysis (DMA), oscillatory rheometer test, differential scanning calorimeters (DSC),
extensional viscometer test etc. are conducted to gain insights about polymer behaviour. This
section describes the theoretical background of these different tests. The results of these tests
are required further to develop material models for simulations. These material models, for
processing and performance simulations, and their parameterization is also talked in details in
this chapter.

3.1 Material Characterization

3.1.1 Tensile Testing

To determine the material characteristics such as tensile strength and deformation, a universal
testing machine (UTM) is used. An electromechanical test where the characteristic parameters
are found out by applying a tensile force on the material. Some of the tests that can be perform
in UTM are tension, bending, friction, peel and spring tests.

A typical tensile testing machine mainly has two components that is loading unit and control
unit. Main processes carried out in the loading unit is the arrangement of components and
application if load and in control unit, application of load is varied and results are extracted.
These units have components like load cell, crosshead, extensometer, specimen grips,
electronics and a drive system.

Fig 3.4: Universal Testing Machine [31]

12
Load Cell: Load cell is used for measuring the load and applying it. Here the measurement is
done where a force transducer converts tension force into electrical signal, by which the force
is measured.

Extensometer and Load Frame: Load frame is a part where the specimen is placed for the
testing. Extensometer is a device which is used to measure the extension of the specimen when
the load is applied along the tests

Drive system: For the motor to run at various speed and torque, drive systems are used to
supply electricity to them which indirectly controls the motor applications.

As mentioned above some of the tests that can be performed by UTM are tensile, Compression,
Adhesion, Pull-out, Bending and Hysteresis tests. The input parameters that are to be used and
the output generated are gotten from testing software. These software’s has machine and safety
settings and can record all the experiments conducted and specific parameters used such as the
application of force and the elongation of the specimen throughout the test.

The polymer specimens after punching have to be kept to condition for 24 hours. The polymer
grade is tested at 3 different temperatures at 3 different strain rates. These tests are done to get
the stress-strain data which are useful for generating the material card necessary for process
simulation.

3.1.2 Dynamic Mechanical Analysis:

It is a method for examining and describing the viscoelastic behaviour of polymers that is based
on the two crucial elements of stress and strain. A sample is mechanically deformed by
oscillatory or sinusoidal force, and the response of the sample's viscosity and elasticity is
monitored. Monitoring the response to the deformation as a function of temperature, time,
frequency, and amplitude is possible in the dynamic mechanical analysis of the polymer
material response system.

Fig 3.5: Purely Viscous and Elastic Polymer Material Response to the Deformation [32]

13
For a perfectly elastic material, when the applied force is removed from the sample, the material
comes back to its original dimensions. Because the sample restores the entire energy involved
in the deformation process after removal of force, the applied stress and sample deformation
will perfectly overlap as shown in the above figure 3.5. On the other hand, the purely viscous
materials, shows loss of energy during deformation, the stress lags behind the strain by 900

Fig 3.6: Viscoelastic Polymer Material Response to the Deformation [32]

In case of viscoelastic materials such as polymers, sinusoidal response of stress and strain are
at an angle known as phase angle shown in the above figure.

RSA 111 is the tool used for DMA. The RSA 111 mechanically applies an oscillating
deformation, or strain, to the material being tested in order to test the solid's dynamic
mechanical properties. The material is connected to a transducer that measures the force
produced as a result of material deformation. The operator controls the test frequency and strain
amplitude.

3.1.3 Extensional Viscosity:

To assess the polymers' extensional flow behaviour, an extensional viscosity test is conducted.
It describes a particular kind of deformation in which a viscous material is stretched or
elongated. By applying force to the sample and measuring the stress-strain data that results, the
high precision rheometers in use can measure the sample's flow and deformation as well as its
viscosity and modulus. A rheometer can characterize non-Newtonian behaviours in complex
fluids including emulsions, suspensions, paints, inks, coatings, slurries, etc. that a normal
viscometer is unable to, such as shear thinning, thixotropy, and yield stress.

Sentmanat Extensional Rheometer (SER) is the tool used to carry out the test. It comprises of
a master winding drum and a slave winding drum that are mechanically connected by
intermeshing gears. Clamps are used to mount the sample's ends on these drums. The slave
14
drum will rotate in the opposite direction from the master drum, stretching the sample over as
a result. The master drum is rotated using a drive shaft at a fixed rotation speed (i.e Hencky
strain rate). The tangential force that the material uses to resist stretching is measured as the
resulting torque by the transducer as a function of time. Finally, the tensile stress growth
function, 𝜂𝐸+ , of th stretched sample can then be expressed as

𝐹(𝑡)
𝜂𝐸+ = Eq. 3.1
𝜀𝐻̇ 𝐴(𝑡)

Where, 𝐹(𝑡) is the instantaneous extensional force at time t exerted by the sample as it resists
stretch, 𝜀𝐻̇ is the Hencky’s strain rate and it is the instantaneous cross-sectional area of the
sample.

Fig 3.7: Extensional Rheometer [33]

3.1.4 Low Amplitude Oscillatory Shear:

In a strain-controlled test or a stress-controlled test, an area is said to as having low or small

amplitude oscillatory shear if the viscoelastic response to an applied oscillatory deformation is
linear, or else sinusoidal. The term large amplitude oscillatory shear also designates a non-
linear region.

The aforementioned test sheds light on the viscoelastic behavior of polymers, including their
storage modulus elasticity, loss modulus viscoelasticity, and the phase connection between
stress and strain. For this test, the sample is made up of pellets that are heated during the
precondition phase until they melt. After that, the sample is supported between two parallel
plates to ensure appropriate alignment. The sample is subjected to a sinusoidal oscillatory shear
stress or strain by the instrument, and the resulting stress or strain response is then measured.
The frequency sweep is conducted at a variety of temperatures and strain rates.

15
The response obtained as a function of stress/strain is used to calculate the storage modulus
(G’) and loss modulus (G’’) as a function of frequency which are then plotted to identify any
frequency-dependent behaviour such as glass transition or melt transition.

Fig 3.8: Rheological Testing Machine [34]

3.2 Material Models

3.2.1 K-BKZ Model

The K-BKZ non-linear viscoelastic and time-dependent material was proposed by Kaye and
Bernstein [11]. The K-BKZ constitutive equation is given by
𝑡
𝜎̿(𝑡) = ∫−∞ 𝜇 0 (𝑡 − 𝑡́)ℎ{ 𝐼1 (𝑡, 𝑡́), 𝐼2 (𝑡, 𝑡́)}𝐶𝑡̿ −1 (𝑡́)𝑑𝑡́ Eq. 3.2

The K-BKZ equation has mainly three aspects, that is

Finger strain Tensor 𝐶𝑡̿ −1 (𝑡́) It defines the kinematics of the deformation mode, which would
be the typical kinematic deformation mode imposed in the experiment.

̇ 𝑡́)
1 + 𝛾(𝑡 − 𝛾(𝑡 − 𝑡́) 0
−1
𝐶̿𝑡 (𝑡́) = 𝛾(𝑡 − 𝑡́) 1 0 Eq. 3.3
0 0 1

Here 𝛾 is the extension ratio.

Memory Function:𝜇 0 (𝑡 − 𝑡́): It describes the linear viscoelastic of purely time dependent
behaviour of the polymeric melt.

𝑔𝑖 𝑒𝑥𝑝 [−(𝑡−𝑡́)/𝛾𝑖
𝜇 0 (𝑡 − 𝑡́) = ∑𝑖 Eq. 3.4
𝛾𝑖

Where, gi and i are the Prony series constants describing the viscoelastic stress relaxation
behaviour.
16
Damping Function: The damping function, which represents the quick equilibration of the
polymeric melt at high stresses, is the third aspect. It is a strain-dependent term. Because of the
substantial differences in the reputation and equilibration timeframes for polymeric melts,
which create time-strain separation, the damping function multiplies the memory function.

ℎ(𝐼1 , 𝐼2 ) = exp [−(𝑛 − 𝜕)√𝐼2 − 3 − 𝜕√𝐼1 − 3] Eq. 3.5

For the high strain behaviour, arbitrary constants are used to fit the damping function. Thy are
n and .

Full parameterization of the K-BKZ model then requires the determination of the viscoelastic
Prony series constants gi and i, and the damping function parameters n and  [18].

3.2.2 Stacking Load Test or Buckling Test

Any thermoformed or blow-moulded thin-walled packaging application should pass stack

load and drop test criterion as important performance requirements. Stack load is the
compressive load experienced by a bottom-most packaging part due to stacks of similar parts
on top of it. Based on the functional requirements, such parts are designed for certain stake
load that it should meet before collapse.

For a rough estimate, stack load through CAE simulation is evaluated through linear Eigen
buckling analysis using only Elastic modulus of the material. For a detailed investigation,
RIKS non-linear analysis is conducted which takes into account material and geometric non-
linearity.

3.2.2.1 Linear Eigen Buckling Analysis:

Eigen buckling analysis is an analysis done for calculating critical load of the part. In this
analysis the part is typically subjected to axial load. According to Euler’s formula, critical load
is calculated as

𝜋 2 .𝐸.𝐼𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝐹𝑐𝑟 = Eq. 3.7
𝑙2

Here, E is elastic modulus of the material, l is the buckling length of the structure and Imin is
minimal moment of inertia of the cross-section.

We know that stiff structures use axial action not bending action for carrying the loads, these
structures critical load is estimated using eigen value analysis. Eigen buckling analysis is
solved using ABAQUS FEA solver. This uses Lanczos and subspace iteration method for
solving eigen value problems. In the eigen value analysis, applied load is not important as the
17
critical load is calculated using an eigen multiplier factor which is a function of the load that
can carry by the part. The lowest eigen multiplication factor is the one which will be used in
calculating critical loads.

Critical Load = Applied load* Lowest Eigen multiplier (Eigen value)

3.2.2.2 RIKS Nonlinear Analysis:

As we know that eigen value analysis is used for measuring critical load in the linear region.
In reality there will be inconsistencies in the part simulation like, material and geometric
nonlinearity and unstable post buckling response which will not be captured in eigenvalue
analysis. For this, RIKS method is used. Here Abaqus uses a quantity called as arc length along
the static equilibrium path for simultaneously solving loads and displacements. Therefore
RIKS is a method which includes non-linearity to predict unstable geometric non-linear
collapse of the structure.

3.2.3 Drop Test:

Drop test requirement is to ensure the packaging durability even after multiple drops from
certain heights. Finite Element modelling and simulation of drop test can be conducted using
ABAQUS explicit. To take into account the impulse of stress waves part see during sudden
impact, accurate performance prediction requires the material stress-strain data at different
strain rates at a given test temperature.

One among the important aspect of this thermoforming analysis is to model the fluid that is
inside the part and define the interaction that the fluid and the inside surface of the part hold.
One of the important reasons to adopt this modelling is to look into the performance of the
simulation when the fluids violent sloshing effect on plastic container with impact. As a
meshless approach which do not require defining nodes and elements, SPH is a Lagrangian
numerical modelling method, which do not require to be connected to its boundary surfaces.
Boundary edge particles or pseudo-particles in SPH are discretized by a given set of continuum
equations and by interpolating the properties directly at a discrete set of points distributed over
the solution domain. PC3D which is a single nodded continuum particle element are equally
spaced in a uniform manner in the liquid domain is used for modelling of SPH particles in
ABAQUS.
Damage Criterion:
To understand the level of damage and to visualize the part failure or leakage after drop impact,
a combination of damage initiation and damage evolution models for ductile materials are used
as a part of material card during FEA simulation.

18
Damage Initiation:

The ductile, shear, forming limit stress, and Müschenborn-Sonne forming limit diagram
(MSFLD) criteria are just a few of the damage initiation criteria. A ductile material can be
damaged by two basic mechanisms: shear fracture due to shear band localization and ductile
fracture caused by the nucleation, propagation, and coalescence of voids. Based on
phenomenological data, these two mechanisms require various configurations of the damage-
onset criteria. The criterion for damage initiation in the current work was determined to be
ductile.

Ductile Criterion:
The ductile criterion is a phenomenological model for predicting the onset of damage due to
nucleation, growth and coalescence of voids. The model assumes that the equivalent plastic
strain at the onset of damage, 𝜀̅𝐷𝑝𝑙 is a function of stress triaxiability and strain rate.

𝜀̅𝐷𝑝𝑙 (𝜇, 𝜀̇𝑝𝑙 ) Eq. 3.8

Here

𝜇= stress triaxiality, P= pressure stress, Q= Misses equivalent stress, 𝜀̇ 𝑝𝑙 = Equivalent plastic

strain rate.

The criterion for damage initiation is met when the following condition is satisfied:

𝑑𝜀 −𝑝𝑙
𝑤𝐷 = ∫ 𝑝𝑙 = 1, Eq. 3.9
𝜀̅𝐷 (𝜇,𝜀̇ 𝑝𝑙 )

When 𝑤𝐷 = 1, damage initiation criteria will not be met. However, 𝑤𝐷 will increase
monotonically with plastic deformation.

At each increment during the analysis the incremental increase in 𝑤𝐷 is computed as

∆𝜀 −𝑝𝑙
∆𝑤𝐷 = ∫ 𝑝𝑙 ≥ 0. Eq. 3.10
𝜀̅𝐷 (𝜇,𝜀̇ 𝑝𝑙 )

In ABAQUS Standard [29] the ductile criterion can be used in conjunction with the Mises,
Johnson-Cook, Hill, and Drucker-Prager plasticity models and in ABAQUS/Explicit [29] in
conjunction with the Mises, Johnson-Cook, Hill, and Drucker-Prager plasticity models,
including equation of state. For the triaxiality, we have the data for just uniaxial tension. But
triaxiality ranges from biaxial tension to biaxial compression whose values ranges from 0.66
to -0.66. Therefore, we have to find out the values of all and give it as input.

19
The figure below provides a straightforward explanation of the relationship between the
uniaxial state and the biaxial state and shear state. It should be noted that while the damage
initiation strain varies depending on the strain rate and stress triaxiality, the ratio of damage
initiation strains at different stress triaxialities remains constant which may be shown here.

Fig 3.9: Stress Triaxiality

Damage initiation card for the material considered in current project was constructed as per the
below table,

Table 3.1: Damage Initiation Card for SABIC® PP

Failure Strain Triaxiality Strain Rate Temp
0.3974 -0.66 0.0033 23
0.3785 -0.33 0.0033 23
0.0382 0 0.0033 23
0.0379 0.33 0.0033 23
0.0189 0.66 0.0033 23
0.4697 -0.66 0.033 23
0.4473 -0.33 0.033 23
0.0452 0 0.033 23
0.0447 0.33 0.033 23
0.0224 0.66 0.033 23
0.3819 -0.66 0.33 23
0.3744 -0.33 0.33 23
0.0378 0 0.33 23
0.0374 0.33 0.33 23
0.0187 0.66 0.33 23

Here the first column represents the plastic strain at failure of the material. Plastic strains for
different stress triaxiality is given in the second column. Material is tested at different strain

20
rates and at certain temperature which is represented in the third and fourth column of the
material data card.

Damage Evolution

Fig 3.10: Stress Strain Curve with Progressive Damage Degradation

The stress-strain behaviour of a material experiencing damage is seen in the above figure. The
damage appears in two ways in the context of an elastic-plastic material with isotropic
hardening: softening of the yield stress and degradation of the elasticity. The damaged stress-
strain response is shown in the figure as a solid curve, whereas the undamaged response is
shown as a dashed curve.

D is overall damage variable. It shows the effect of active damage mechanisms and is calculated
by 𝑑𝑖 , individual damage variable. When this D becomes 1, 𝜎𝑦0 and 𝜀̅0𝑝𝑙 can be represented as
yield stress and equivalent plastic strain at onset of damage and 𝜀̅𝑓𝑝𝑙 as equivalent plastic strain
at failure.

The value of the equivalent plastic strain at failure,𝜀̅𝑓𝑝𝑙 , depends on the characteristic length of
the element which cannot be used as a material parameter for the specification of the damage
evolution law. Instead, the damage evolution law is specified in terms of equivalent plastic
displacement,𝑢−𝑝𝑙 .

Mesh Dependency and Characteristic Length:

The stress-strain relationship no longer adequately describes the behaviour of the material
when material damage occurs. The energy dissipated lowers when the mesh is refined due to a
significant mesh dependency based on strain localization introduced by continuing to apply the
21
stress strain relation. To follow the stress-strain response curve's strain-softening branch, a
different strategy is needed. By generating a stress-displacement response after damage is
commenced, Hillerborg's (1976) fracture energy suggestion helps to reduce mesh dependency.
Hillerborg specifies the energy needed to open a unit area of crack as a material parameter
using brittle fracture ideas. This method results in a stress-displacement response rather than a
stress-strain response as the hallmark of the softening response following damage onset.

The fracture energy is then given as

𝑝𝑙 𝑝𝑙
𝜀̅ 𝑢
𝐺𝑓 = ∫ 𝑝𝑙𝑓 𝐿𝜎𝑦 𝑑𝜀 −𝑝𝑙 = ∫0 𝑓 𝜎𝑦 𝑑𝑢−𝑝𝑙 Eq. 3.11
𝜀̅0

Here in the above equation, 𝑢−𝑝𝑙 is equivalent plastic displacement.We know that damage
initiation is 𝑢−𝑝𝑙 =0; after damage initiation 𝑢−𝑝𝑙 = L𝜀̇−𝑝𝑙 .

Damage Evolution Based On Effective Plastic Displacement

Once the damage initiation criterion is reached, the effective plastic displacement,𝑢−𝑝𝑙 , is
defined with the evolution equation

̇ = 𝐿𝜀 −𝑝𝑙
𝑢−𝑝𝑙 ̇ Eq. 3.12

Here L is the characteristic length. The evolution of the damage variable with the relative
plastic displacement can be specified in tabular, linear, or exponential form.

Maximum Degradation and Choice of Element Removal

In Abaqus/Explicit if Dmax =1.0 element deletion occurs. In all cases of cohesive elements,
elements are deleted when degradation reaches its maximum value that is value of 1.0. If its
even 0.99 in any one of the section points at any of the integration location of the element,
elements won’t be deleted. There will not be any more damage if degradation reaches its
maximum at an integration point. For instance, when the maximum deterioration is reached at
any one integration point, a solid element is automatically removed. However, before an
element in a shell element is removed from the mesh, all through-the-thickness section points
at any one integration location of the element must fail. When it comes to second-order
reduced-integration beam elements, element removal occurs by default when maximum
degradation is reached at all section sites along the thickness at either of the two element
integration locations along the beam axis. Similar to this, element removal occurs by default
when D reaches Dmax at any one integration point in modified triangular and tetrahedral solid
elements as well as completely integrated membrane elements.

22
 CHAPTER 4
METHODOLOGY

The overall objective of this project is to develop a framework for interrelating processing and
structural simulations. The processing simulation defines the design and manufacturing of a
part while structural simulation evaluates the stack and drop performance of a part. The
framework will allow producing an optimal product in which the parameters of both processing
and structural are taken into consideration. The process simulation is done in commercially
available software T-SIM® while structural simulations are done in HyperWorks which uses
ABAQUS as a solver. These are Finite Element Method based simulation softwares. A
SABIC® PP has been used to develop this simulation methodology for a given thermoformed
part design. The PP material has been characterized to generate material cards required for both
processing and structural simulations. The following section explains this methodology in
detail.

4.1 Material Characterization

Fig 4.1: Low Amplitude Oscillatory Shear Measurement

Figure 4.1 shows a graph of raw data generated from oscillatory shear experiment. Here a
frequency sweep is done at 3 temperatures that is at 190, 210 and 230℃. Raw data shows the
variation or the storage and loss modulus values at varying frequency.

23
 1.0E+06 0.01 1/s 0.1 1/s 1 1/s 10 1/s

Extensional Viscosity [Pa-s]

1.0E+05

1.0E+04

1.0E+03

1.0E+02
0.001 0.1 Time [s] 10 1000
Fig 4.2: Extensional Viscosity Data

Variation of elongation viscosity with time is shown in the figure 4.2. The above test is
conducted at 4 strain rates that is at 0.01, 0.1, 1 and 10. The variation is captured and will be
used directly in the process material card excel tool.

35

30
Stress in MPa

25

20

15

10

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Strain %

Fig 4.3: Stress Strain Data from UTM

For tensile testing, 1BA sample of SABIC® PP is considered. Here the material is tested at
various temperatures like 23, -18, 140 and 150 ℃ to check the performance of the material at
these temperature. At each temperature the material is tested for strain rates like 5, 50, 100 and

24
500 mm/min, which are going to be used for material characterization and model fitting and
ultimately material card for process and structural simulations.

4.2 Processing Simulation

The specific aim of the processing simulation is to understand how a part of given design forms
in thermoforming under the given processing conditions. Plug-assisted vacuum thermoforming
process is considered for in this study. This section includes the plug and mold design, material
card used and thermoforming processing conditions required to establish the process of
conversion of the sheet into a thermoformed part. Based on the specified processing parameters
such as pressure/vacuum level, tool movement, initial sheet thickness and temperature and
material properties, the final thickness distribution of the part is predicted. Here we thoroughly
lay out the steps involved in the process simulation.

4.2.1 Data Fitting and Material Model

For thermoforming process, the viscoelastic behavior of the material is described using
nonlinear K-BKZ constitutive equation as explained in section 2.2. The non-isothermal effects
were accounted using WLF model. These equations are fitted to the mechanical or rheological
measurements done on a given material at different strain rates and temperatures to estimate
model parameters. These model parameters are available in the form of multi-mode relaxation
spectra and the Wagner “irreversible” damping function parameters. These parameters are
given as an input to T-SIM as a material card.
The first step in generating material model is fitting of the rheological data to estimate model
parameters. As described in section 2.2, the K-BKZ model has two terms. The first term,
memory function describes the linear viscoelastic of purely time dependent represents the time
dependant behaviour of the polymeric melt. The memory function is defined by the equation
[4] which has 𝑔𝑖 and 𝜆𝑖 as the Prony series constants describing the viscoelastic stress
relaxation behaviour. These Prony series constants are correlated to the storage and loss moduli
determined from oscillatory shear measurements. The detailed procedure for determination of
Prony series constants has been given in Raina and Patham [18] where they developed an excel
tool for the fitting. It involves an initial guess for 𝑔𝑖 , 𝜆𝑖 and the number of modes (N) and the
determination of G’ and G’’ corresponding to the test frequency and the calculation of the
square error for G’ as well as G’’ at every frequency, the summation of all these errors and then
the minimization of the sum of square errors by changing𝑔𝑖 , 𝜆𝑖 and N, iteratively.
For the present study, an excel tool from [18] has been directly used to fit low amplitude
oscillatory shear measurements for PP material at 180, 200 and 220 0C. The number of
relaxation modes used to obtain better fitting of the oscillatory data is 5. The relaxation
25
spectrum obtained from the fitting is given in Table 2 below. The figure 4.4 shows the predicted
vs measured G’ and G’’ values at all the three temperatures.
Table 4.1: Relaxation Spectra of SABIC® PP
Relaxation Relaxation
Time (s) Modulus (Pa)
0.0122 6.92E+04
0.0328 1.49E+04
0.0879 3.23E+03
0.2358 1.22E+04
0.6325 4.96E+01
1.6968 6.12E+02
4.5521 4.67E+02

Fig 4.4: Fitting of Storage and Loss Moduli for Linear Viscoelastic Relaxation Spectrum
The temperature dependency in the TSIM® is modelled by the Williams-Landel-Ferry (WLF)
equation. It is defined by two parameters C1 and C2. These parameters are estimated by
calculating horizontal shift factors at each temperature and fitting those data to get C1 and C2.
The table 3 shows the values of the C1 and C2 obtained for SABIC® PP material.

Table 4.2: WLF Parameters

Parameter Value
Ref. Temperature Tr (℃) 100
C1 (K) 5.19422
C2 (K) 564.590

26
The second term to define the K-BKZ model is the strain dependent term, called the damping
function, representative of the short-timescale equilibration of the polymeric melt at high
strains. From equation [5], 𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝛿 are arbitrary constants that are employed to fit the damping
function to the high strain behaviour. The estimation of these parameters require the use of
experimental information from tests that subject the melt to large strains and is explained in
detail in by Raina A and Patham B, 2018 [18]. Here, these parameters are predicted using their
excel tool and experimental measurements of viscosity growth, carried out in simple loading
scenarios with constant strain rates of 0.01, 0.1, 1 and 10 1/sec and reference of temperature of
180 0C. Figure 15 shows the predicted vs measured extensional viscosity. The values of
𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝛿 for which this fitting is obtained are 0.1 and 0.3 respectively.

1.0E+06
0.01 1/s 0.1 1/s 1 1/s 10 1/s
Extensional Viscosity [Pa-s]

1.0E+05

1.0E+04

1.0E+03

1.0E+02
0.001 0.01 0.1 Time1 [s] 10 100 1000

Fig 4.5: Fitting of Extensional Viscosity for Damping Parameters Estimation

To create the material card, along with model parameters, the thermal and physical properties
of the material are also needs to be defined. Table 4.3 below shows the properties of SABIC®
PP used to create material card.

Table 4.3: Properties of SABIC® PP

Parameter Value
Density (kg/m3) 1350
Heat capacity (J/kg/K) 1883
Thermal conductivity ( W/m/K) 0.145

27
Using all the above data, the model parameters, WLF constants and physical properties, the
created material card for SABIC® PP material for processing simulation is shown below in
figure 4.6.

Fig 4.6: SABIC® PP Material Card for Processing Simulation

4.2.2 Simulation Geometry:

A tool and plug design considered for the analysis is shown in Figure 4.7 below. They are
designed in HyperWorks software and meshed using R-trias element with an element size of 2
mm as shown in Figure 18 below. These tools are then imported into T-SIM® software in .stl
(stereolithographic) format. These tools can also be created in T-SIM® itself. It enables creating
tools via series of 2-D contours, each representing a cross-section through the tool. Providing
dimensions at each contour in x, y & z directions will create a tool. For complex tools this
approach is not recommended. T-SIM® can use tool representation which were created using
CAD/CAM software packages.

Fig 4.7: The Tool and Plug Design

28
 Fig 4.8: Meshed Part Geometry with R-trias Elements in HyperWorks
For the present study, a sheet of 35 mm length and 35 mm width is defined as shown in Figure
4.8. The sheet thickness of 1 mm is considered with uniform temperature of 150 0C everywhere.
The sheet is clamped at all four sides of it. It is discretised into 18000 triangular finite elements
and refined. Each element is assigned with a thickness, temperature and stress developed at the
end of the simulation. Maximum number of elements that can be given to the sheet is limited
by PC memory available.

Fig 4.9: Sheet of Triangular Elements

4.2.3 Heat Transfer and Friction Coefficients:

The temperature of mold and plug tool are given generic values encountered in thermoforming
process. The coefficient of friction (COF) between the tool and the sheet is influenced by the
materials of the sheet and tool, the temperature, and the surface roughness of the COF, thus,
varies from one process configuration to other. The setting of this parameter in the simulations
requires elaborate measurements for various material combinations. In this study, the value of
COF is taken within realistic bounds for the given material and tool combination.

29
Table 4.4: Tool Temperature, Heat Transfer and Friction Coefficients

Heat Air/Material
Friction Ambient Air
Temperature Transfer Heat Transfer
Tool 0C Coefficient Temperature
Coefficient 0C Coefficient
(COF)
W/m2.K W/m2.K
Mold 45 250 0.8 30 2.5
Plug 40 150 0.75 30 2.5

4.2.4 Thermoforming Process Settings

After calculating all the parameters required for the thermoforming process simulation, it is
used as material card and we move to the process setting.
Process setting step is done in accordance with the real-life thermoforming situation where,
application of pressure is done at different tool position leading to a formed part. First step of
this process setting is to bring the tools that is plug and mold tool into the position of the sheet
created. Now the pressure/vacuum is applied. The model is positioned at certain space where
the mold part is along the z-axis which says that the pressure applied is along z-axis. The sheet
will inflate in positive or negative z direction based on the positive or negative value of
pressure/vacuum applied.
Application of pressure/vacuum should be optimum and should correspond to the material and
parameters considered. A high value of pressure leads to the explosion of sheets, which leads
to the failure of the simulation. With the optimum application of pressure, sheets elements sits
on the mold part where the nodes touching the mold is visible. This confirms that the simulation
done is successful.
The setting is given in Figure 21 below. The sheet is at 150 ℃, which itself acts as the prestretch
of it. At the start of the process, the plug tool is brought near to the sheet. At 0.3 sec, the plug
tool stretches the sheet without the application of vacuum. With passing of time there is a
sudden increase in pressure that is a pressure of -25 KPa is applied but the plug tool will be in
the same position. At the last step of the process the plug tool will be moved to the bottom part
of the mold with the increase in pressure from -25 KPa to -100 KPa.
The values of the pressure applied at different position of the plug-tool is provided in the figure
above. At the end of this process that is after completion of 0.5 seconds, sheet is stretched along
the mold tool giving a variation of thickness along the part.

30
 Fig 4.10: Schematic of Tool and Plug Position used in Process Simulation

0 40
Pressure
30

Tool Position (mm)

-20 Tool_Position
Pressure (KPa)

Plug_Position 20
-40
10
-60
0
-80
-10

-100 -20

-120 -30
0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1
Time (s)

Fig 4.11: Pressure and Tool Position as a Function of Time

4.3 Structural Simulation

Structural simulation of the thermoformed part is important for optimizing the part to meet
given performance requirements. In the present study, there are two performance criteria
considered i.e. stack load and drop test. The simulations would be developed for these two
tests. This section describes the steps to develop these simulations in detail.
4.3.1 Thickness Extraction from Processing Simulation
In order to evaluate if the design can meet the performance requirements, a thickness
distribution of a thermoformed geometry needs to be extracted from processing simulation and
31
shall be used in the structural simulations. Below steps describe this extraction process in detail
also shown schematically in Figure 4.12:
1) Complete the process simulation for a given part and understand the thickness distribution
at different cross-sections
2) Create a dummy model of shell elements of same dimensions as that of the formed part
from process simulation
3) After aligning and calibration, extract the thickness variation and apply to the dummy
model
4) Export the thickness mapped part geometry for structural simulation

Fig 4.12: Steps for Thickness Extraction from Processing Simulation

The extracted and mapped thickness is shown in Figure 4.13 below:

Fig 4.13: Mapped Thickness Distribution along the Thermoformed Part

4.3.2 Structural Material Card:
For the purpose of generating material card for stack load test and drop tests, an extruded 3 mm
thick SABIC® PP sheet is considered. This sheet is then punched into 1BA samples according
to the ISO527 standard. The punched samples are then kept for a day of conditioning at room
temperature. The conditioned samples are tested for uniaxial tensile as per the matrix below

32
and using repetitive data, average nominal stress-strain curve is generated as shown in Figure
4.14.

Fig 4.14: Average Stress-Strain Curve for SABIC® PP

The true stress-strain values are then generated using average nominal stress-strain data using
below equations for all strain rates and temperatures. ABAQUS material card under *PLASTIC
requires plastic strain vs true stress data and same can be obtained through true stress-strain
values.
𝜎 = 𝜎𝑛𝑜𝑚 (1 + 𝜖𝑛𝑜𝑚 ) Eq. 4.1
𝜖 = (1 + 𝜖𝑛𝑜𝑚 ) Eq. 4.2
where 𝜎 is a true stress, 𝜖 is a true strain, 𝜎𝑛𝑜𝑚 is a nominal stress and 𝜖𝑛𝑜𝑚 is a nominal strain.
For stack load test, material card is generated at quasi-static strain rate and room temperature
but for drop test simulation, material card shall have data at multiple strain rates and all at room
temperature.

4.3.3 Stack Load/Buckling Simulation

This section explains about how a stack load test is done. Before getting into how it’s done, we
shall try to understand why a stack load test should be considered. Any product after
manufacturing will be packaged and transported to another place, where the products is stacked
one over the other. To test whether the product can handle this stacking, the mentioned test is
simulated. Based on the weight of the part, minimum amount of stack load that the part should
handle is determined. Here for this simulation, the thermoformed part should at least carry a
load of more than 3N.

There are two types of stack load test simulation. A test which considers that the whole
geometry is linear and calculates the buckling load is called as linear buckling analysis or Eigen
analysis. But in reality, there will be non-linearity across geometry or material or boundary
33
conditions imposed. To capture this non-linearity, Riks test is done. The Riks method captures
the post buckling behaviour of the part. The post buckling behaviour is useful because after
some displacement in the part is reached structures may regain its load bearing capacity. From
this the part can be loaded over its critical load. Therefore, Riks method of buckling analysis
is important in understanding the part characteristics.

The thermoformed part shown in the figure below is considered for stack load test simulation.
The part is meshed with 2mm of element length and S3 type of R-trias element is used. A rigid
top floor and bottom floor is created which is as shown in the figure. Rigid top floor represents
stacking of the parts in reality. These Rigid bodies are meshed with quad elements and a
reference node is considered, here this reference node represents whole rigid body. Contacts
should be considered between the rigid floors and the part. Tie contact is given, where the
elements of the part is considered as the slave contact and elements of the rigid floor is
considered as the master contact. A concentrated load of 1N is applied on the top reference
node which represents top rigid floor. For the top reference node, a single degree of freedom
is considered that is translation along z-axis and as for the bottom reference node, it is
constrained in all degrees of freedom.

Fig 4.15: Boundary Conditions for Stack Load Test

4.3.4 Drop Test Simulation

This section explains how a drop test is done in simulation software, HyperWorks. Simulation
is done in dynamic explicit analysis with Hypermesh as the preprocessor and abaqus as the
solver. This simulation is done to check whether the part fails a certain drop condition. Element
type and length of the element is same as that of the stack load test simulation. Here inside the
part, yogurt is modelled as SPH model with the distance between the SPH modelled element
given as 4mm. Here for this simulation whole 100% capacity of yogurt is considered inside the
part with a density of around 1100kg/m3. One important thing to consider is the orientation of
the drop. Preliminarily drop is done at 45 degrees orientation but for a perfect drop we have to

34
find the centre of gravity of the part. After finding that point, it has to be aligned to one of the
edges of the part giving an orientation of 28 degrees for this part.

In drop-impact testing, the falling object is positioned so that its center of gravity (CG) is
perpendicular to the edge or side that will make contact with the rigid floor. With an initial
velocity acquired during free fall from the dropping height, simulation is initiated immediately
before the component hits the unyielding ground. Dynamic nonlinear explicit FEA was the
simulation methodology that was employed. For meshing and pre-processing tasks, Hypermesh
2021 was utilized, and ABAQUS was used as the solver tool for simulation and post-processing
tasks. When building the SPH model, component characteristics like density and viscosity are
taken into account.

Fig 4.16: Drop Test Simulation

Boundary and Loading Conditions:

Between the part's surface and the SPH model, as well as the part and floor surface, a general
contact was defined. In every DOF, the rigid floor is restricted. Defined were also the default
surface interactions. The part and the SPH model both received the initial velocity and gravity
force. Impact tests were conducted on the floor with a minimum drop height of 1 metre from
the ground. Just before the impact, the drop height is transformed into the beginning velocity
for the simulation, and it is then applied in the direction of the impact. A gravity force of 9180N
was applied in the direction of gravity to the part model and yogurt model elements.

𝑉 = √2𝑔ℎ = √2 ∗ 9810 ∗ 1000 = 4429.446 mm/s

Creation of Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) and Calculation of Mass:

In the HyperWorks software, fluid modeling is done using this method. Modeling the fluid
inside the part and defining the interaction between the fluid and the interior surface of the part
are two crucial aspects of this thermoforming analysis. Examining the simulation's

35
performance when fluids have a violent sloshing effect on a plastic container with impact is
one of the key justifications for using this modeling.

SPH is a Lagrangian numerical modeling technique that does not require connecting to its
boundary surfaces since it is a meshless approach that does not involve defining nodes and
elements. In SPH, boundary edge particles or pseudo-particles are discretized by interpolating
the characteristics at a discrete collection of locations scattered across the solution domain
using a given set of continuum equations. The modeling of SPH particles in ABAQUS uses
PC3D, a single nodded continuous particle element that is uniformly and equitably spaced in
the liquid domain.

The thermoformed part is meshed in R-trias elements. The shell section 2D element gives a
volume. The part is meshed again with 3D tetra mesh which also gives volume. Subtracting
the tetra mesh volume with the R-trias mesh volume we will get the real volume of the part.

Volume of R-trias meshed cup (𝑉1 ) = 2730.843 mm3

Volume of 3D tetra meshed cup (𝑉2 ) = 121037.239 mm3
Volume of the cup is 𝑉2 - 𝑉1= 118306.396 mm3
Density of fluid (D) = 971.44 kg/m3
Mass of the fluid inside the part is D*V = 114.927 grams

36
 CHAPTER 5
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

This section describes in detail the results that were achieved by carrying out processing and
structural simulations.

5.1 Process Simulation Results

The initial simulation was carried out in commercial software TSIM®. It has a very fast iterative
multithreaded solver which uses parallel processing on PC with more than one processor.
SABIC® PP material was considered with initial sheet thickness of 1 mm and sheet temperature
of 150 0C. The formation of the part at different stages is shown schematically in the figure 5.1.

Fig 5.1: Schematic of Part Formation at Different Stages

This thickness contour of the thermoformed part and thickness distribution along the part cross-
section is shown in the Figure 5.2 below. From the figure, it is clear that thickness of the part
is reduced almost by 10 times from 1 mm to 0.132 mm and the least thickness is along the
sidewalls of the part. This is due to the drawdown effect and stretching of the material along
the length of the part. The stretching effect can be seen very clearly from the contour of the
ratio L1/L2 of the thermoformed part shown in Figure 5.3. Here, L1/L2 is the ratio of relative
extensions in two principal directions. If L1/L2 is equal to 1, it means deformation is equi-
biaxial. If L1/L2 >> 1, it means deformation is almost uniaxial. From the figure 5.3, it is evident
that the value of the ratio L1/L2 is more that 1 on the sidewalls of the formed part where the
sheet deforms uniaxially. It is close to 1 in most of the bottom part where the sheet deforms
uniformly in both the directions.

37
 Fig 5.2: (a) Thickness Contour of the Thermoformed Part (b) Variation of Thickness along
the Part Cross-section X-X

Fig 5.3: Contour of L1/L2 Ratio of the Part Thickness Variation across the Arc Length in X-
axis
The thickness is lowest at the bottom of the formed part. This is due to the drawdown effect
and stretching of the material along the length of the part. The thickness will be same if we

38
consider along the y-axis arc length because for this design of the part, the cylindrical thickness
variation is less as it is drawn down along the z-axis.

Finally, the predicted stress profile of the thermoformed part is shown in figure 5.4 below. It is
observed from the contour plot that the sidewalls of the formed part where most of the thinning
happens because of the uniaxial extension, there are high stresses developed in this region.

Fig 5.4: Contour of Stress Profile the Thermoformed Part

5.2 Stack Load Test Simulation

For a rough estimate, stack load is evaluated through linear Eigen buckling analysis using only
elastic modulus of the material. For a detailed investigation, RIKS non-linear analysis is
conducted which takes into account material and geometric non-linearity.

Eigen Value Buckling Simulation:

The critical load is obtained by multiplying the applied load on the part with the first Eigen
multiplier. Since we apply a unit load on the top of the part it becomes easy to determine the
critical buckling load. The buckling has been analyzed for the first three buckling modes. The
obtained critical load in the first mode is 113.1 N.

Fig 5.5: 3 Eigen Modes while Buckling

39
The displacement contours are as shown in the Figure 5.5. The first Eigen mode gives the
lowest value of the load and hence is the critical load before buckling starts. The buckling is
first observed in the bottom region of the part. If the thickness in these areas are improved then
the critical buckling load can be increased and the part would be able to withstand more load.
This approach however does not give us the post-buckling behavior of the part since it neglects
the non-linearity in the model.

RIKS Buckling Simulation:

The RIKS analysis uses the arc-length method approach to simultaneously search for the load
and displacement. This method gives a better estimate of the critical buckling load by
considering the non-linearity in the model and solves for large and unstable deformations also
giving the post-buckling behavior of the model. The critical load here is determined by plotting
a graph of reaction force with the displacement of the top rigid node.

Fig 5.6: Displacement and Stress Components along the Part

140

120
Reaction force in N

100

80

60

40

20

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
Displacement in mm
Fig 5.7: Displacement x Reaction Force
From the load v/s displacement curve, the critical load before buckling occurs was obtained as
130 N. After crossing this limit, the part undergoes unstable deformations which can be
40
captured in the graph also called post-buckling behavior. The design load now is 130 N from
the RIKS analysis.
From the displacement contour, we can see that the lower middle part of the part is involved
more in buckling rather than the other regions, but the stress developed is more at the bottom
edges of the part. For increasing the stiffness of the part, ribs should be given at the regions
where the stress developed is more that is at the bottom edges of the part.
Table 5.1: RIKS Result of Model

Mass of model Gm 6.9

Load carrying capacity (Riks) N 130

Load carrying capacity (Eigen) N 113.1

5.3 Drop Test Simulation:

While performing the drop impact simulation, understanding the part orientation at the time of
drop is important to ensure maximum impact on the weakest element of the part. In general,
during the drop, part get oriented so that impacting line (edge impact) or the impact point
(during corner impact) get aligned along the vertical plane passing through center of gravity
(CG) of the body. Therefore, center of gravity of the whole part is located and edge of the part
is aligned in vertical plane passing through CG resulting in a part orientation of 27 degrees at
the time of impact with ground.

Fig 5.8: DUCTCRT and SDEG Contours in the Part

The analysis results of the part drop from a height of 700 mm is discussed in this section. The
context of this study is to see that the designed part sustains the damage during rough handling
and does not leak. Element failure/deletion analyzed through damage evolution helped to

41
visualize fluid leakage for a failed part. The scalar stiffness degradation (SDEG) and ductile
initiation (DUCTCRT) parameters are observed for analysis.

Figure 5.8 shows the DUCTCRT and SDEG contour plot. As conveyed earlier, once
DUCTCRT reaches a value of 1.0, damage initiation starts. At this point SDEG value would
0.0 and final failure and element deletion happens when SDEG reaches a value of 1.0. In the
current plot many of the elements are deleted.

Fig 5.9: Stress Contour of the Part after the Drop

Figure 5.9 shows the stress contour plot immediately after the drop. A 35.5 MPa of Von-mises
stress is developed at the bottom edges of the part and bottom side of the part is failed and
inside liquid leaked out. Current design needs further iteration to ensure it pass the required
drop test requirements. Through current efforts, we have setup the process chain to simulate
and design a thermoformed part for its functional requirements.

42
 CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSIONS

This study developed an initial simulation framework for designing and optimizing a
thermoformed part to meet its functional requirements. This considers all the aspects of the
work undertaken in this project which includes material testing, parameterization and process
and performance simulation.

Simulations are carried out by a SABIC® PP material. This material was characterized for
different rheological tests and fitted against a non-linear viscoelastic model, K-BKZ, to
estimate model parameters using SABIC® in-house developed excel tool.

A processing simulation is carried out using commercially available software TSIM® for a
given geometry and SABIC® PP material. This processing simulation is carried out to
understand the thickness distribution of the thermoformed geometry. The predicted thickness
profile from the processing simulation was then extracted and mapped on the part to be used
for structural simulation.
In the present work, the stack load and drop impact simulations were considered as functional
requirements of the thermoformed part. The stress-strain data was generated using tensile
testing to create material cards for these simulations. For stack load test, linear and non-linear
approaches have been followed for determining the critical buckling load for the thermoformed
art. The critical buckling load from linear Eigen value buckling analysis was found to be 130.1
N in the first mode. As linear analysis is not of significance as it considers only the linear
behavior of the part, a non-linear RIKS analysis was used to get the right critical buckling load.
From the load v/s displacement curve, the critical load before buckling occurs was obtained as
130 N. The part undergoes unstable deformations in the post-buckling behavior. For the drop
impact simulation, a part drop from a height of 700 mm was considered with fluid inside the
part. Element failure/deletion analyzed through damage evolution helped to visualize fluid
leakage for a failed part. The scalar stiffness degradation (SDEG) and ductile initiation
(DUCTCRT) parameters were observed for analysis. A 37.9 MPa of Von-mises stress was
observed at the bottom side where the part was failed and inside liquid leaked out. Therefore,
the current part design needs further improvement to ensure that the part meets the drop
requirements.

43
 CHAPTER 7
FUTURE SCOPE OF WORK

Through current efforts, we have setup the framework to simulate and design a thermoformed
part for its functional requirements. As a next step, a processing simulation needs to be updated
incorporating actual process data from the experimental trials and then structural simulations
would be carried out. Next, both, processing and structural simulations would be validated
against the experimental data. The thickness from processing simulations would be compared
against experimentally measured part thickness while a critical buckling load from the stack
load and drop load simulations would be compared against the actual tests on a formed
geometry. After the validation, if required, part would be further optimized in order to meet all
the application requirements.

44
 REFERENCES

[1] https://polymerdatabase.com/
[2] Marathe D., Shelar S., Mahajan S., Ahmad Z., Gupta S., Kulkarni S., Juvekar V., and Lele
A., “Study of Rheology and Plug Assist Thermoforming of Linear and Branched PP
Homopolymer and Impact Copolymer”, Intern. Polymer Processing, 3 (339-355), 2019.
[3] Mohammadian-Gezaz S., Ghasemi I., Karrabi M. and Azizi H., “Investigation on the
Thermoformability of Polyolefin Blends by Hot Tensile and Rheological Tests”, Polymer
Testing, 25 (504–511), 2006.
[4] Borsig, E., Fiedlerova, A., Rychla, L., Lazar, M., Ratzsch,M. and Haudel, G., “Crossling
of Polypropylene-Polyethylene blends by Peroxide and the Effect of Pentaerythritol
Tetrallyl Ether”, J. Appl. Polym. Sci., (467-478), 1989.
[5] DeNicola A. J., "Process For Making A Propylene Polymer with Free-End Long Chain
Branching and Use Thereof", U.S. Patent 5047485A, 1990.
[6] Chikhalikar K., Banik S., Azad L., Jadhav K., Mahajan S., Ahmad Z., Kulkarni S., Gupta
S., Doshi P., Pol H. and Lele A., “Extrusion Film Casting of Long Chain Branched
Polypropylene”, Polym. Engg. & Sci., 55 (1977-1987), 2015.
[7] RG Larson, “Constitutive Equations for Polymer Melts and Solutions”, Butterworths Series
in Chemical Engineering, 2013.
[8] Ferry, J. D., "Viscoelastic Properties of Polymers", Third Edition, John Wiley and Sons
Inc., New York, 1980.
[9] Macosko C. W. and Larson R. G., "Rheology: principles, measurements, and applications",
1994.
[10] Meijer H. and Govaert L., “Mechanical Performance of Polymer Systems: The Relation
between Structure and Properties”, Prog. In Pol. Sci., 30 (915-938), 2005.
[11] Kaye, A., "Non-Newtonian flow in incompressible Liquids", College of Aeronautics,
Note No. 134 & 149, 1962.
[12] Doi M. and Edwards S. F., “Dynamics of concentrated polymeric systems - Parts 1 and
2,” J. of Chem. Soc., Faraday Transactions 2, 74 (1789-1817), 1978.
[13] Doi, M., and S. F. Edwards, “The Theory of Polymer Dynamics”, Clarendon Press,
Oxford, 1986.
[14] https://www.ansys.com/products/fluids/ansys-polyflow
[15] https://plm.sw.siemens.com/en-US/simcenter/fluids-thermal-simulation/star-ccm/
[16] https://www.t-sim.com/
[17] Novotny P. and Saha P., “Fitting of KBK-Z Model Parameters for the Simulation of
Thermoforming”, Intern. Poly. Proc., 3 (291-295), 1999.

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[18] Raina A., and Patham B., “Simple EXCEL tools for basic constitutive model
parameterization using rheological data”, SABIC Internal Report 2017-STCB-POLY-171,
2018.
[19] Cha J., Song H. Y., Hyun K. and Go J. S., "Rheological measurement of the nonlinear
viscoelasticity of the ABS polymer and numerical simulation of thermoforming process",
The Intern. J. of Adv. Man. Tech., 107 (2449-2464), 2020.
[20] Kueppers M. and Michaeli W, "Simulation of the Stretching Process of Complex
Geometries with Respect to Thermoforming Conditions", SPE ANTEC, 48 (462-464),
1990.
[21] Ogden J. T. and Sato T. "Finite Strains and Displacements of Elastic Membranes by the
Finite Element Method", Int. J. Solids Struct., 3 (471-488), 1967.
[22] Wang P., Hamila N., and Boisse P.,” Thermoforming simulation of multilayer
composites with continuous fibres and thermoplastic matrix”, Composites Part B: Engg.,
52 (127-136), 2013.
[23] Nam G. N., Lee J. W., and Ahn K. H., “Three-dimensional simulation of
thermoforming process and its comparison with experiments”, Polym. Engg. & Sci., 40
(2232-2240), 2000.
[24] Nied H. F., Taylor C. A. and deLorenzi H. G., "Three-Dimensional Finite Element
Simulation of Thermoforming", Polymer Engineering and Science, 30(1314-1322), 1990.
[25] Kouba K. and Vlachopoulos J., "Modeling of 3D Thermoforming", SPE ANTEC, 50
(114-116.), 1992.
[26] Klein P. W., “Plastics Thermoforming Tool Design: Plug vs Cavity Molds”, PhD
Thesis, Dept. of Ind. Tech., Ohio Univ., 2006.
[27] Prus C., Vinuesa R., Schlatter P., TembrásE., Mestres E. and Ramírez J. P. B., “Impact
simulation and optimisation of elastic fuel tanks reinforced with exoskeleton for aerospace
applications”, Inter. J. of Crashworthiness, 22 (271-293), 2017.
[28] Hegde N.L., "Use of Predective Simulations To Assess Structural Performance Of
Plastic Industrial Containers", M-Tech Thesis, MIT-Manipal, 2019.
[29] ABAQUS User’s manual, DASSAULT SYSTEMS
[30] Khandelwal R., Janiwarad R., Niranjan L.H. and Lohr C., "Use of Predictive
Simulations in Optimizing Plastic Blow Molded Industrial Containers", The International
Blow Molding Conference, Brussels, Belgium, 13th -14th Oct 2020.
[31] https://www.ifbb-hannover.de/en/mechanical-testing-laboratory.html
[32] Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer: MCR 702e MultiDrive :: Anton Paar (anton-paar.com)
[33] https://www.tainstruments.com/ares-g2/
[34] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheometer

46
 PROJECT DETAILS

Student Details
Student Name VISHNU YADAV C V
Register 210977005 Section / CAAD/05
Number Roll No
Email Address yadavvishnu235@gmail.com Phone No 8970079396
(M)
Project Details

SIMULATION FRAMEWORK FOR PROCESSING-STRUCTURE-

Project Title
PROPERTY INTERRELATIONSHIPS IN THERMOFORMING

Project 10 months Date of AUG 16 [2022]

Duration reporting
Organization Details
Organization SABIC Research & Technology Pvt. Ltd, Bangalore
Name
Full postal SABIC Research and Technology Pvt. Ltd.
address with Plot No.81 to 85 Village: Chikkadunnasandra ,Anekal Taluk, Off. Sarjapur
pin code – Attibele State Highway
Near St. Philomena School, Bangalore – 562125, Karnataka, India.
Website www.sabic.com
address
Supervisor Details
Supervisor Amol Prabhakar Avhad
Name
Designation Sr. Scientist
Full contact SABIC Research and Technology Pvt. Ltd.
address with Plot No.81 to 85 Village: Chikkadunnasandra ,Anekal Taluk, Off. Sarjapur
pin code – Attibele State Highway
Near St. Philomena School, Bangalore – 562125, Karnataka, India.
Email address AmolPrabhakar.Avhad@SABIC.com Phone No 7506740590
(M)
Internal Guide Details
Faculty Name Dr. Kirana Kumara P
Full contact Manipal Institute of Technology,Udupi Karkala Road, Manipal,
address with Karnataka 576104,
pin code India
Email address Kirana.kumarap@manipal.edu

47
 ANNEXURE I

Program Outcomes (POs) during project period

PO mapping to student project

Student Name: Vishnu Yadav C V Register No.:210977005

Note: Use a mark if you have addressed that PO in your report.

Table I.1: PO mapping

PO mark Pg. Topics & Guides Observation

No. Section No
PO1 14 Structural Research been carried out
Analysis and implemented in project.
PO2 NA Full Report Report has been prepared.
PO3 37 Thermoforming T-SIM software is learnt
Simulation and simulation is carried
out.
PO4 41 Performance Design was optimized and
simulation analysis is done using
HyperWorks software.
PO5 32 Methodology Input was taken from
multiple departments.
PO6 15 Motivation Project was to develop a
framework.

Signature of Student: Name and Signature of Guide:

Date: 04-09-2023 Dr. Kirana Kumara P

48
 ANNEXURE II

Program Learning Outcomes (LO) during project period

LO Mapping for student project work

Student Name: Vishnu Yadav C V Register No.: 210977005

Note: Use a mark if you have addressed that LO in your report.

Table II.1: Learning Outcome (LO) mapping

LO mark Pg. Topics & Section Guides Observation

No. No
M1 44 Calculation of Mass. Knowledge of mathematics,
statistics and engineering
principles applied.
M2 32 K-BKZ material Material parameterization.
modelling.
M3 40 Thermoforming A thermoforming process is
Simulation. simulated.
M4 18 Literature Review Detailed review is carried out.
M5 32 Methodology Design solutions for complex
problems that evidence some
originality and meet a
combination of societal, user,
business and customer needs is
provided.
M7 51 Conclusion Evaluation of impact of user
need and compliance is done.
M16 32 Methodology Overall execution of the work is
done by taking input/support
from different departments.
M17 50 Results Method used is evaluated and
effectively communicated.

Signature of Student: Name and Signature of Guide:

Date: 04-09-2023 Dr. Kirana Kumara P

49
 ANNEXURE III

Questions and Answers

Answer the following questions with relevant to your Project work.

Address of Design, Economic, Social, Legal, Ethical and Environmental Aspects

Answer the following questions with relevance to your project work. Questions will be in italic
and Answers should be non-italic.

Q1. Is there any design processes involved in your project?

Yes

Q2. If YES, what are the design processes involved in the project? Explain the design process
and methodologies you undertook.

A model was given, whose dimension was scaled and optimized. A sabic grade material was
tested for various mechanical and rheological tests whose results were used as inputs for
material characterization and parameterization. These parameters were used as input for further
simulations.

Q3. Were you already aware of such design process and methodologies prior to your project?

Yes

Q4. Where you gained that awareness of design process and methodologies? Was there any
course or part of the course or lab etc.?

By the virtue of the courses offered in the first year of the MTech CAAD like Advanced
Mechanical Vibrations, Finite Element Analysis, FEA Lab, Design Of Experiments, Design
Lab, covered the fundamentals of the design processes used in this work. But a more in depth
working knowledge was acquired only during the actual project itself.

Q5. Was your knowledge, understanding and skills were sufficient to solve the given design
issue? Is the final design okay? Have you met the desired specifications? If not, what was effect
observed on the design?

The understanding throught the internship was sufficient but more knowledge is needed for the
future scope of work.

50
Q6. Have you used your theoretical knowledge or any experimental research information to
mitigate the effects and get the desired specifications?

Yes

Q7. If YES for Q6, explain in detail how and what theoretical knowledge and experimental
research used in your project.

Theoretical knowledge of K-BKZ material model is used experimentally in the project.

Q8. Were there unfamiliar situations in your project?

Yes

Q9. Were you able to successfully apply or adapt those design processes and methodologies
into your unfamiliar situations of your project? Explain

Yes. Unfamiliar Process and performance simulation are successfully solved.

Q10. Did the design process help you for successful completion of the project work?

Yes.

Q11. Is there any new design (methods/procedures/component selection/processes) you have

proposed and developed for your project? Explain.

A framework is developed.

Q12. Did your project demand or needed those new type of design
methods/procedures/component selection/processes? Explain.

Yes, the project’s main objective was to develop a framework for process and structural
simulation which is achieved here.

Q13. During your stay in the industry for the project work, have you witnessed/been
sensitized/observed certain professional and ethical conduct in the workplace?

Yes.

Q14. Did you adhere to certain professional and ethical conduct during your project work?
Explain

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Yes. People here respect boundaries and never disturb you after working hours.

Q15. Did you adhere to professional and ethical conduct while writing your thesis report?
Explain.

Yes. The report was reviewed by the company professionals.

Q16. Why we do plagiarism check for the Thesis? Explain.

It is done so as to ensure the originality of the work.

Q17. Do you think you have attained good awareness/sensitized about the need for a high level
of professional and ethical conduct in engineering?

Yes.

Q18. Explain the commercial and social contexts the industry in which you did your project
work is operating.

SABIC is a constantly looking to the future, they invest heavily in Technology and Innovation
(T&I). Their T&I facilities are spread across the globe with hundreds of dedicated scientists
contributing to the ongoing development of new patents and certifications.

Q19. Did you tackle any commercial and social issues such as part of your project work?
Explain in detail.

The project was a client project.

Q20. How the awareness that engineers need to take account of the commercial and social
contexts in which they operate can be delivered during each course? Articulate and explain
your thoughts.

Every design choice will inevitably have a commercial impact primarily on the martials we
choose and the processes it is taken through. Then there are secondary things like sourcing and
supply chain, this plays a the most important role in mass production.

Q21. Do you think you have attained good awareness/sensitized about the need for commercial
and social contexts in engineering?

Yes.

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Q22. Why it is necessary for engineers have knowledge and understanding of management and
business practices applied specialization? Explain with an example/case study.

It is very important to understand the business aspects to have a holistically optimal design in
terms of marketability which it all comes down to finally. The live example of the work carried
out can be cited here. There was an unreliable thickness variation in the material that was used
here before. The project conducted used 3 different sabic grade material which was delivered
to us from different country. And also it was a hassel for us to test these materials because we
had to request different departments and work under their time priorities. Therefore, it is
necessary for engineers to have knowledge and understanding of management and business
practices applied specialization.

Q23. Explain the management and business practices in the industry where you did your
project work?

There were many constraints like changing of the material which would have been very easy
to solve the problem but was prohibited due to supply chain and business agreements with the
suppliers.

Q24. Did you tackle any management and business issues such as part of your project work?
Explain in detail.

Yes. It took us a lot of time to get the material used in this project.

Q25. Are these management and business issues reported in your report/thesis?

No.

Q26. Why is it so essential these days to promote sustainable development? (Read and Explain
with an example)

Sustainable development is vital to the growth of industry specifically a material processing

based because the material and the product goes through a lifecycle from the phase of
conception to the end of life. If the development is not sustainable then it can’t stand the test
of time and it proves difficult incorporate future adaptations. This brings down the whole
reputation of the company.

Q27. Were there any courses or part of courses in your program that helped in understanding
the management and business practices? Explain

Yes, an induction was given.

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Q28. Explain the measures taken to promote sustainable development in the Industry where
you did project work?

Whole company’s motto is sustainable development.

Q29. Have you considered in your work any sustainable development works?

Yes.

Q30. Where there any quantitative techniques applied to sustainable development?

NA.

Q31. Are these sustainable development issues include in your report/thesis?

No.

Q32. How the company takes green initiative, environment related factors.

Environmental factors are given the utmost importance in this company.

Q33. Why is it so essential these days to be aware of relevant regulatory requirements? (Read
and Explain with an example)

As the product developed is used in real time by various companies which are partnered by
Sabic, it is essential to be aware of relevant regulatory requirements.

Q34. Have you observed any regulatory governing activities at the Industry where you are
doing project?

Yes.

Q35. Have you observed any QUALITY COMPLIANCE governing activities at the Industry?

Yes.

Q36. Does your project require any regulatory governing engineering activity?

No.

Q37. Are these regulatory issues include in your report/thesis?

No.
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Q38. Why is it so essential these days to be aware of risk issues including health and safety,
environmental and commercial?

It is very important to account all the risks as it contributes to the final market performance.

Q39. Have you noticed any risk issues including health and safety, environmental and
commercial at the Industry where you are doing project?

Yes.

Q40. Does your project require any risk management issues including health and safety,
environmental and commercial?

No.

Q41. Are these any of the issues included in your report/thesis?

No.

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Classification: General Business Use

ANNEXURE IV

Project work classification

Student Name: Vishnu Yadav C V Register No.: 210977005

Note: Use a mark to specify under which domain your project work falls into.

Table IV.1: Classification based on project domain classification

Domain mark
Product
Application
Review
Research
Management

Note: Use a mark to specify Societal impacts you considered during your project work.

Table IV.2: Classification based on societal consideration

Social Impact mark

Ethics
Safety
Environmental
Commercial
Social

Signature of Student: Name and Signature of Guide:

Date: 04-09-2023 Dr. Kirana Kumara P

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