Industrial thermoforming simulation of automotive fuel tanks

An industrial thermoforming simulation with regard to automotive plastic fuel tanks is presented including all relevant process stages. The radiative and conductive heat transfer during the reheat stage, the deformation and stress behaviour during the forming stage, and the final cooling stage are simulated. The modelling of the thermal and rheological behaviour of the involved material is investigated in greater detail. By means of experimental data it is found that modelling of the phase transition during the process is highly important for predicting correct wall thickness distributions.