This example demonstrates the use of the chemical reactions physics module to compose models for pyrolysis kinetics of a thermoset material, where a binder is burnt into char. The framework and usage of the model is explained below, with both mathematical formulations and example input files.
Framework
The thermosetting pyroslysis processs of a binder-particle composite is shown schematically in the figure below. This is a temperature-controlled process in which the precursor (the binder) gets decomposed into gas and a residue solid. A portion of the gas is trapped inside the binder and/or the solid. It is assumed that the particle phase does not participate in the reaction and its mass remains constant. It is also assumed that the residue does not further decompose or react.
Mass conservative system of a binder-particle composite under the pyrolysis process at the (a) initial, (b) intermediate, and (c) final state.
Let \( \omega_i \) with \(i=p,b,g,c\) denote the current weight fraction of the particle, binder, gas, and char, respectively. When the reaction is complete, all of the binder gets converted to char with final yield (often experimentally measured using thermogravimetric analysis, or TGA).
where the reaction coefficient \(k\) is temperature dependent following an Arrhenius relation.
Control volume
To couple with other physics based on control volume, we consider the control volume shown in figure below,
Schematics of the Representative Volume Element (RVE) (solid line) at a given state during pyrolysis, depicting the non-reactive particles, the binder, char, close pores, and open pore (with no gas). The dashed line depicts the control mass of the reaction system.
Within the RVE, we track four independent state variables: \( \omega_b, \omega_c, \omega_g, \varphi_{o} \), where \(\omega_b\), \(\omega_c\), and \(\omega_g\) are the mass fraction of the binder, char, and gas, respectively; \(\varphi_{o}\) is the volume fraction of the open pore.
Thus, the effective volume of the RVE can be calculated as
This example demonstrates the use of the chemical reactions physics module to compose models for pyrolysis kinetics of a thermoset material, where a binder is burnt into char. The framework and usage of the model is explained below, with both mathematical formulations and example input files.
Framework
The thermosetting pyroslysis processs of a binder-particle composite is shown schematically in the figure below. This is a temperature-controlled process in which the precursor (the binder) gets decomposed into gas and a residue solid. A portion of the gas is trapped inside the binder and/or the solid. It is assumed that the particle phase does not participate in the reaction and its mass remains constant. It is also assumed that the residue does not further decompose or react.
Mass conservative system of a binder-particle composite under the pyrolysis process at the (a) initial, (b) intermediate, and (c) final state.
Let \( \omega_i \) with \(i=p,b,g,c\) denote the current weight fraction of the particle, binder, gas, and char, respectively. When the reaction is complete, all of the binder gets converted to char with final yield (often experimentally measured using thermogravimetric analysis, or TGA).
where the reaction coefficient \(k\) is temperature dependent following an Arrhenius relation.
Control volume
To couple with other physics based on control volume, we consider the control volume shown in figure below,
Schematics of the Representative Volume Element (RVE) (solid line) at a given state during pyrolysis, depicting the non-reactive particles, the binder, char, close pores, and open pore (with no gas). The dashed line depicts the control mass of the reaction system.
Within the RVE, we track four independent state variables: \( \omega_b, \omega_c, \omega_g, \varphi_{o} \), where \(\omega_b\), \(\omega_c\), and \(\omega_g\) are the mass fraction of the binder, char, and gas, respectively; \(\varphi_{o}\) is the volume fraction of the open pore.
Thus, the effective volume of the RVE can be calculated as