A three dimensional simulation of a rubber curing process considering variable order of reaction

Calculating the optimum curing time for thick molded rubbery parts is an important challenge in the rubber industry. This presented work is focused on the development of a computational technique for numerical simulation of the rubber vulcanization process in injection molding machines that can be used as a method for determining the best curing time of the final product. The main innovation of the work is introducing a kinetics model with variable order of reaction which enhances the accuracy of the calculated optimum curing time, especially in three-dimensional complex rubber articles. The method is used for simulation of the injection molding process of an automotive rubber part, containing both the mold filling and the cure reaction processes. The numerical predictions of the mold filling time and the curing time are compared with those of experiments, which confirmed the accuracy and capability of the proposed model. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.