A finite element modeling strategy targeting package opening simulations is the final goal with this work. The developed simulation model will be used to proactively predict the opening compatibility early in the development process of a new opening device and/or a new packaging material. To be able to create such a model, the focus is to develop a combined and integrated physical/virtual test procedure for mechanical characterization and calibration of thin packaging materials. Furthermore, the governing mechanical properties of the materials involved in the opening performance needs to be identified and quantified with experiments. Different experimental techniques complemented with video recording equipment were refined and utilized during the course of work. An automatic or semi-automatic material model parameter identification process involving video capturing of the deformation process and inverse modeling is proposed for the different packaging material layers. Both an accurate continuum model and a damage material model, used in the simulation model, were translated and extracted from the experimental test results. The results presented show that it is possible to select constitutive material models in conjunction with continuum material damage models, adequately predicting the mechanical behavior of intended failure in thin laminated packaging materials. A thorough material mechanics understanding of individual material layers evolution of microstructure and the micro mechanisms involved in the deformation process is essential for appropriate selection of numerical material models. Finally, with a slight modification of already available techniques and functionalities in the commercial finite element software AbaqusTM it was possible to build the suitable simulation model. To build a realistic simulation model an accurate description of the geometrical features is important. Therefore, advancements within the experimental visualization techniques utilizing a combination of video recording, photoelasticity and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) of the micro structure have enabled extraction of geometries and additional information from ordinary standard experimental tests. Finally, a comparison of the experimental opening and the virtual opening, showed a good correlation with the developed finite element modeling technique. The advantage with the developed modeling approach is that it is possible to modify the material composition of the laminate. Individual material layers can be altered and the mechanical properties, thickness or geometrical shape can be changed. Furthermore, the model is flexible and a new opening device i.e. geometry and load case can easily be adopted in the simulation model. Therefore, this type of simulation model is a useful tool and can be used for decision support early in the concept selection of development projects.

The mechanical material behavior of highly extensible or ductile polymer films used in the packaging industry has been studied in this work. The polymer material, consisting of different variants of polyethylene grades, is used as several components in the packaging material structure at Tetra Pak®. Experimental tensile tests were used to quantify the mechanical behavior and to be able to calibrate numerical constitutive material models. The studied polymer materials were able to withstand large deformations before breaking, involving both necking in the width and thickness direction of the specimen. During deformation re-orientation of polymer chains and substantial strain-hardening were also occurring. The latter effect was accounted for in the presented material modeling approach. The numerical simulations were solved in the general finite element software Abaqus version 6.13. In this work a continuum damage modeling (CDM) approach was used. CDM which are attractive in macro scale applications, thus solving our engineering problems, was chosen in this study due to the computational efficiency. A damage model consisting of two functionalities; initiation of damage and evolution of damage was suitable for modeling the ductile fracture behavior. During the numerical analysis it has been assumed that the polymer materials are isotropic, homogenous through the thickness, independent of strain rate and independent of temperature to ease the material parameters identification.

The fracture mechanical phenomenon occurring during the opening of a beverage package is rather complex to simulate. Reliable and calibrated numerical material models describing thin layers of packaging materials are needed. Selection of appropriate constitutive models for the continuum material models and how to address the progressive damage modeling in various loading scenarios is also of great importance. The inverse modeling technique combined with video recording of the involved deformation mechanisms is utilized for identification of the material parameters. Large deformation, anisotropic non-linear material behavior, adhesion and fracture mechanics are all identified effects that are needed to be included in the virtual opening model. The results presented in this paper shows that it is possible to select material models in conjunction with continuum material damage models, adequately predicting the mechanical behavior of failure in thin laminated packaging materials. Already available techniques and functionalities in the commercial finite element software Abaqus are used. Furthermore, accurate descriptions of the included geometrical features are important. Advancements have therefore also been made within the experimental techniques utilizing a combination of microCT-scan, SEM and photoelasticity enabling extraction of geometries and additional information from ordinary experimental tests and broken specimens. Finally, comparison of the experimental opening and the virtual opening, showed a good correlation with the developed finite element modeling technique.

The micro-mechanisms of fracture in a laminate composed of an aluminium foil and a polymer film are considered in this study. The laminates as well as the individual layers, with and without premade centre-cracks, were tensile tested. Visual inspection of the broken cross-sections shows that failure occurs through localised plasticity. This leads to a decreasing and eventually vanishing cross-section ahead of the crack tip for both the laminate and their single constituent layers. Experimental results are examined and analysed using a slip-line theory to derive the work of failure. An accurate prediction was made for the aluminium foil and for the laminate but not for the freestanding polymer film. The reason seems to be that the polymer material switches to non-localised plastic deformation with significant strain-hardening.

This work present an approach of how to account for the anisotropic mechanical material behaviour in the simulation models of the thin aluminium foil layer (≈10 μm) used in the Packaging Industry. Furthermore, the experimental results from uniaxial tensile tests are parameterised into an analytical expression and the slope of the hardening subsequently extended way beyond the experimental data points. This in order to accommodate the locally high stresses present in the experiments at the neck formation. An analytical expression, denominated Ramberg-Osgood, is used to describe the non-linear mechanical behaviour. Moreover it is possible with a direct method to translate the experimental uniaxial tensile test results into useful numerical material model parameters in Abaqus™. In addition to this the extended material behaviour including the plastic flow i.e. hardening, valid after onset of localisation, the described procedure can also capture the microscopic events, i.e. geometrical thinning, ongoing in the deformation of the aluminium foil. This method has earlier successfully been applied by Petri Mäkelä for paperboard material [1]. The engineering sound and parameterised description of the mechanical material behaviour facilitates an efficient categorisation of different aluminium foil alloys and aid the identification of the correct anisotropic (RD/TD/45°) mechanical material behaviour derived from the physical testing. © 2017 Author(s).

Trouser tear testing has been concerned in this research work. A polypropylene film and a low density polyethylene film used in the packaging industry are considered. The experimental trouser tear tests showed different results for both materials when they were subjected to load in different material directions. Therefore the hypothesis was verified, that the in-plane material orientation/alignment induced during manufacturing, hence creating anisotropic in-plane mechanical properties, also affects the tearing behavior. A brittle-like failure was shown in the polypropylene film while the low density polyethylene presented a highly ductile behavior. The two polymer films can be classified as one low-extensible and one high-extensible material according to the test method utilized. Material parameters in the principal material directions i.e. manufacturing direction and cross direction were extracted from the experimental tests for further numerical studies. Scanning electron microscope was used for micromechanical and fractographical analysis of the crack tip and crack surfaces created during the tests. The methods discussed will help classify different groups of materials and can be used as a predictive tool for the crack initiation and crack propagation path in packaging material, especially thin polymer films.

Observations and analysis of samples from scanning electron microscopic (SEM) micrographs has been concerned in this work. The samples originate from fractured mechanical mode I tensile testing of a thin polymer film made of polypropylene used in the packaging industry. Three different shapes of the crack; elliptical, circular and flat, were used to investigate the decrease in load carrying capacity. The fracture surfaces looked similar in all studied cases. Brittle-like material fracture process was observed both by SEM micrographs and the experimental mechanical results. A finite element model was created in Abaqus as a complementary tool to increase the understanding of the mechanical behaviour of the material. The numerical material models were calibrated and the results from the simulations were comparable to the experimental results.

Fracture mechanical Mode I tensile testing has been performed on an oriented polyproplyne film used in packaging industry. Physical Tensile testing for the continuum material has been performed to observe the material strength and to extract continuum material properties for numerical analysis. Fracture mechanical testing of different shaped notches is performed to observe the failure initiation in the material. A brittle-like failure was shown in the polypropylene film while the low density polyethylene presented a highly ductile behavior. A finite element method (FEM) strategy has been successfully developed to perform numerical analysis of polymer films. The developed FEM model gives an accurate and approximate method to compare and analyze the experimental and numerical results. The obtained results have shown a very fine similarity under theoretical, experimental and numerical analysis. Depending on crack geometry different shape crack effects showed the transferability of localized stresses at different points around the crack. Fracture surface and fracture process is analyzed using scanning electron microscope (SEM). Brittle failure with small deformation and presence of small voids and their coalescence has also been shown in SEM micrographs for LDPE material. The methods discussed will help classify different groups of materials and can be used as a predictive tool for the crack initiation and crack propagation path in packaging material, especially thin polymer films.

Tetra Pak has used numerical simulation tools for plastic injection molding (Moldflow) and structural analysis (Abaqus/Implicit and Abaqus/Explicit) for many years. Today these two simulation tools are used independently of each other without any coupling. How these two disciplines can be combined to better predict the mechanical response of a polymer component is presented in this work. The manufacturing process, in this case injection molding, creates the mechanical properties of the produced polymer part. Process settings, material selection and molding tool geometry affect the polymer flow, material orientation and rate of crystallinity. A method to build a layered finite element model in Abaqus using results from Moldflow simulations regarding crystallinity growth and molecular orientation is proposed. Relatively simple material models were utilized and assigned for each individual material layer through the thickness in the polymer part. These constitutive models were derived phenomenologically from experimental test results and could adequately capture both the microscopic and the macroscopic behavior in a more realistic way. The numerical results showed a good agreement with the experimental results, both regarding visual appearance and force/displacement response.

This research has investigated the essential work of fracture (EWF) from trouser tear test of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), low-density polyethylene (LDPE) films and their corresponding laminate using a convenient cyclic tear test method. Propagation of tear crack in these thermoplastics deflects from the initial crack path due to the material anisotropy. An improvement to a two-zone tear model for determining tear EWF was proposed for LDPE-like materials. Energy dissipation due to non-uniform bending of the trouser-legs was determined to be significant in EWF calculation of tearing and this was therefore considered in this study. To measure the tear EWF in laminates, contribution from delamination energy dissipation was accounted for.

Fracture path of a polymer coated and uncoated aluminium foil (about 6-7 um) is followed in a Scanning Electron Microscope. The crack length and applied load were measured during crack initiation and growth. The specimens’ cross section were then studied using the optical profilometric method to exam the deformed surface. For the uncoated Al-foil, no fracture surface can be observed. Fracture seems to occur through so-called necking. This behaviour was successfully modelled by a modified strip yield model. It leads to a conclusion that the crack tip is preceded a substantial plastic zone as compared with the crack length. The result was then compared to a polymer coated Al-foil. Further more, similar experimental works were performed on a polymer coated and uncoated Polypropylene. The results were discussed and compared to the cases with Al-foil layer.

Injection-moulding is one of the most common manufacturing processes used for polymers. In many applications, the mechanical properties of the product is of great importance. Injection-moulding of thin-walled polymer products tends to leave the polymer structure in a state where the mechanical properties are anisotropic, due to alignment of polymer chains along the melt flow direction. The anisotropic elastic-viscoplastic properties of low-density polyethylene, that has undergone an injection-moulding process, are therefore examined in the present work. Test specimens were punched out from injection-moulded plates and tested in uniaxial tension. Three in-plane material directions were investigated. Because of the small thickness of the plates, only the in-plane properties could be determined. Tensile tests with both monotonic and cyclic loading were performed, and the local strains on the surface of the test specimens were measured using image analysis. True stress vs. true strain diagrams were constructed, and the material response was evaluated using an elastic-viscoplasticity law. The components of the anisotropic compliance matrix were determined together with the direction-specific plastic hardening parameters. © 2017 The Author(s)

The fracture mechanics properties of injection-moulded low-density polyethylene (LDPE) sheets were investigated both experimentally and numerically. The total work of fracture was determined experimentally, by means of fracture mechanics testing of sheets of injection-moulded LDPE with side cracks of different lengths. A multi-specimen method, proposed by Kim and Joe (1987), was employed. The total work of fracture was estimated to 13 kJ/m2. The experiments were simulated numerically using the finite element method. Crack growth was enabled by inclusion of a cohesive zone, and the constitutive response of this zone was governed by a traction-separation law. The local (or essential) work of fracture was estimated through numerical analyses, where the initiation of crack growth was simulated and the outcome was compared to the experimental results. The local (i.e. essential) work of fracture was estimated to 1.7 kJ/m2, which is consistent with previous experimental measurements for the material in question. The total work of fracture, retrieved from the present experiments, agreed well with the far field values of the J-integral in the numerical analyses. © 2018 The Authors

A thin metal foil laminated on a polymer film usually fracture at higher strains than its corresponding freestanding material layer. On the contrary the polymer film can be observed to fracture at smaller nominal strains when laminated. This is due to the strain localization induced by the created localised neck and plastic deformation in the metal foil. A significant reduction of the "gauge length" of the polymer film is observed locally. This scenario prevails if the adhesion is sufficiently high to prevent delamination to grow between the layers. The newly created gauge length is in the order of two times a metal foil thickness if the adhesion is very strong, leading to local high stress and low strains measured globally. However, this effect is not due to the brittleness of the material or shift of mechanical properties during lamination. During stretching, large deformations are observed in the moderately ductile and strain-hardening polymer film. Tensile failure (boundary conditions and geometrical effects) of polymer laminates has been observed to be governed by two mechanisms demonstrated in Fig. 1. below. In the first case, the polymer film forms a neck and is deformed locally where the metal foil has fractured and ruptures at a small strain (I). In the second case, the delamination is grown and the polymer deforms and delocalizes the strain to a substantial larger area (II). In some cases the laminated material creates multiple necks and the metal film ruptures at several positions and thus deforms at larger strains. All these observations have experimentally been demonstrated by using scanning electron microscopic (SEM) micrographs.

We study the phase stability and martensitic transformation of orthorhombic and monoclimic polyethylene by means of density functional theory using the nonempirical consistent-exchange vdW-DF-cx functional [Phys. Rev. B 89, 035412 (2014)]. The results show that the orthorhombic phase is the most stable of the two. Owing to the occurrence of soft librational phonon modes, the monoclimic phase is predicted not to be stable at zero pressure and temperature, but becomes stable when subjected to compressive transverse deformations that pin the chains and prevent them from wiggling freely. This theoretical characterization, or prediction, is consistent with the fact that the monoclimic phase is only observed experimentally when the material is subjected to mechanical loading. Also, the estimated threshold energy for the combination of lattice deformation associated with the T1 and T2 transformation paths (between the orthorhombic and monoclimic phases) and chain shuffling is found to be sufficiently low for thermally activated back transformations to occur. Thus, our prediction is that the crystalline part can transform back from the monoclimc to the orthorhombic phase upon unloading and/or annealing, which is consistent with experimental observations. Finally, we observe how a combination of such phase transformations can lead to a fold-plane reorientation from {110} to {100} type in a single orthorhombic crystal.

We study the stability of twin boundaries and slip in crystalline orthorhombic polyethylene by means of density functional theory (DFT), using a nonempirical, truly nonlocal density function, and by means of classical molecular dynamics (MD). The results show that, in accordance with experimental observations, there is a clear preference to chain slip over transverse slip for all considered slip planes. The activation energy for pure chain slip lies in the range 10–20 mJ/m2 while that for transverse slip corresponds to 40–280 mJ/m2. For the (11¯0)-slip plane the energy landscape is non-convex with multiple potential energy minima, indicating the presence of stable stacking faults. This suggests that dissociation of perfect dislocations into partials may occur. For the two low-energy twin boundaries considered in this work, {110} and {310}, we find that the former is more stable than the latter, with ground state energies corresponding to 8.9 and 28 mJ/m2, respectively. We have also evaluated how well the empirical MD simulations with the all-atom optimized potential for liquid MD simulations (OPLS-AA) and the coarse-grained united atom (UA) potential concur with the DFT results. It is found that an all-atom potential is necessary to partially capture the γ-surface energy landscapes obtained from the DFT calculations. The OPLS-AA predicts chain slip activation energies comparable with DFT data, while the transverse slip energy thresholds are low in comparison, which is attributed to weak close ranged monomer repulsion. Finally, we find that the H-H interaction dominates the slip activation. While not explicitly represented in the UA potential, its key role is revealed by correlating the DFT energy landscape with changes in the electron distributions and by MD simulations in which components of the OPLS-AA intermolecular potential are selectively silenced. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd

In the present work we have performed classical molecular dynamics modelling to investigate the effects of different types of force-fields on the stress-strain and yielding behaviours in semi-crystalline lamellar stacked linear polyethylene. To this end, specifically the all-atomic optimized potential for liquid simulations (OPLS-AA) and the coarse-grained united-atom (UA) force-fields are used to simulate the yielding and tensile behaviour for the lamellar separation mode. Despite that the considered samples and their topologies are identical for both approaches, the results show that they predict widely different stress-strain and yielding behaviours. For all UA simulations we obtain oscillating stress-strain curves accompanied by repetitive chain transport to the amorphous region, along with substantial chain slip and crystal reorientation. For the OPLS-AA modelling primarily cavitation formation is observed, with small amounts of chain slip to reorient the crystal such that the chains align in the tensile direction. This force-field dependence is rooted in the lack of explicit H-H and C-H repulsion in the UA approach, which gives rise to underestimated ideal critical resolved shear stress. The computed critical resolved shear stress for the OPLS-AA approach is in good agreement with density functional theory calculations and the yielding mechanisms resemble those of the lamellar separation mode. The disparate energy and shear stress barriers for chain slip of the different models can be interpreted as differently predicted intrinsic activation rates for the mechanism, which ultimately are responsible for the observed diverse responses of the two modelling approaches. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd

This paper is based on the hypothesis that introducing distribution of mechanical properties is beneficial for modeling all kinds of mechanical behavior, even of ordinary metallic materials. To bring proof of its admissibility, it has to be first shown that modeling based on this assertion is able to efficiently describe standard mechanical behavior of materials. Searching for typical study case, it has been assessed that at a low scale, yield stresses could be strongly distributed in ultrathin aluminum foils used in packaging industry, offering opportunities to identifying their distribution and showing its role on the mechanical properties. Considering initially reduced modeling allow to establish a valuable connection between the hardening curve and the distribution of local yield stresses. This serves for finding initial value of distribution parameters in a more sophisticated identification procedure. With finally limited number of representative classes of local yield stresses, concretely 3 is enough, it is shown that a 3D finite element simulation involving limited numbers of elements returns realistic behavior of an ultrathin aluminum foil exerted to tensile test, in reference to experimental results. This gives way to large possibilities in modeling in order to give back complex experimental evidence. © 2018 Author(s).

In this study, laminated composites consisting of LDPE (Low Density Polyethylene), Al-foil (Aluminum foil)and an adhesive interface layer is focused. The defects like necking in LDPE, Al-foil layer and interfacial delaminationcan significantly impact the loading capacity of the laminated material. However, the influence mechanisms of thedefects are still unclear, and no appropriate research tool is available. Therefore, the FEM model based on alreadyavailable techniques in ABAQUS is developed in this work. The aim with the model is to create a robust numericalanalysis tool for further research work.In the modelling process, possibility of necking in substrates and interfacial delamination between material layers isconsidered. A coupled elasto-plasticity damage constitutive model, based on Hooke’s Law, the J2 yield criterion,isotropic hardening, associated flow-rule and ductile damage model, is formulated to demonstrate necking behaviorof substrates. In ABAQUS, three modelling techniques, namely VCCT, Cohesive Element, and XFEM, have been usedto simulate interfacial delamination. The simulation results are compared with the theoretical results.A uniaxial tension test consisting of a two material laminate is simulated by using these three modelling techniques.The special modelling skills for respective modelling techniques, element type, meshing technique of each model, arealso introduced. The comparison with the theoretical results shows necking in substrates and interfacial delaminationare also achieved in all three models as expected. Deformation results of the simulation are very close to that of thetheoretical analysis. Technique features of VCCT, Cohesive Element and XFEM in modelling of interfacialdelamination are analyzed and concluded. These three FEM models can all be utilized according to the requirementsof subsequent research.

In this study, laminated composites consisting of LDPE (Low Density Polyethylene), Al-foil (Aluminum foil) and an adhesive interface layer is focused. The defects like necking in LDPE, Al-foil layer and interfacial delamination can significantly impact the loading capacity of the laminated material. However, the influence mechanisms of the defects are still unclear, and no appropriate research tool is available. Therefore, the FEM model based on already available techniques in ABAQUS is developed in this work. The aim with the model is to create a robust numerical analysis tool for further research work.

In the modeling process, possibility of necking in substrates and interfacial delamination between material layers is considered. The constitutive material behaviour is elastic-plastic complemented with progressive damage, based on Hooke’s Law, the J2 yield criterion, isotropic hardening, associated flow-rule and ductile damage model are formulated to demonstrate necking behavior of substrates. In ABAQUS, three modeling techniques, namely VCCT, Cohesive Element, and XFEM, have been used to simulate interfacial delamination. The simulation results are compared with the theoretical results.

A uniaxial tension test consisting of a two material laminate is simulated by using these three modeling techniques. The special modelling skills for respective modeling techniques, element type, meshing technique of each model, are also introduced. The comparison with the theoretical results shows necking in substrates and interfacial delamination are also achieved in all three models as expected. Deformation results of the simulation are very close to that of the theoretical analysis. Technique features of VCCT, Cohesive Element and XFEM in modelling of interfacial delamination are analyzed and concluded. These three FEM models can all be utilized according to the requirements of subsequent research.