Thermal Stresses in Chemically Hardening Elastic Media With Application to the Molding Process

Abstract

A method has been formulated for the determination of thermal stresses in materials which harden in the presence of an exothermic chemical reaction. Hardening is described by the transformation of the material from an inviscid liquid-like state into an elastic solid, where intermediate states consist of a mixture of the two, in a ratio which is determined by the degree of chemical reaction. The method is illustrated in terms of an infinite slab cast between two rigid mold surfaces. It is found that the stress component normal to the slab surfaces vanishes in the residual state, so that removal of the slab from the mold leaves the remaining residual stress unchanged. On the other hand, the residual stress component parallel to the slab surfaces does not vanish. Its distribution is described as a function of the parameters of the hardening process.