Abstract:
Liquid Composite Molding (LCM) processes are gaining popularity in various composites industries, including aerospace, automotive, infrastructure and marine. LCM encompasses an increasing group of mold filling processes which involve the injection of a resin into a mold cavity filled with a fibrous reinforcement preform. This paper will focus on the mold filling stage of these processes, presenting work that is being carried out on various issues. Channeling of the resin, due to paths of least resistance within the mold cavity, will be discussed. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as racetracking. The effects of in-plane deformation of the preform on mold filling will also be discussed. Commonly, parts manufactured using LCM processes are 'thin', and resin infusion through the thickness of the part can be assumed negligible. When multi-layered preforms are present within a mold, the mold filling process can become three dimensional in nature, posing new modeling challenges. All of the issues mentioned above will be discussed with regards to how they may be modeled in the numerical simulations of the future.
Source: Proceedings of the 'NDE applied to Process Control of Composite Fabrication' - Conference, 1-2 Oct 1996 St. Louis, Missouri. Publisher and Organizer: Nondestructive Testing Information Analysis Center (NTIAC) Texas Research Institute Austin, Inc. Austin, Texas [http://www.ntiac.com] [Buying the Proceedings]
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