The Method of Ellipses (MOE) was applied to long fiber polymer composites in order to quantify the fiber orientation distribution within injection molded end-gated plaques. The effect of matrix viscosity and fiber type on orientation was explored. Orientation was examined along the centerline at the mold-gate interface, near the advancing front and at multiple plaque widths at half of the plaque length. Preliminary data suggests that the matrix viscosity has a larger effect on the orientation of the fibers than if glass fiber (GF) or carbon fiber (CF) is used. A more viscous matrix caused a more distinct shell-core-shell orientation profile. CF appeared to orient faster than GF which is likely due to a shorter aspect ratio. Work is ongoing to obtain the orientation of GF polymer samples with different initial fiber lengths and along the plaque width.
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