Simulation of Polymer Melt Flow During Welding

Polymer welding is used to join a wide variety of critical assemblies. These applications require careful melt control to prevent internal contamination, avoid external flash, and maximize the fill of polymer into the weld geometry for optimal strength. Currently, there are no commercially available modeling software packages to enable the simulation of polymer melt flow during welding. In this work, a commercially available injection molding software is adapted to simulate the welding process. The adaptation is helpful for predicting melt flow and potentially other important factors like intermolecular diffusion,