TY - JOUR
T1 - Elevated-temperature vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding process for high performance aerospace composites
AU - Menta, Venkatagireesh
AU - Vuppalapati, Ramabhadraraju
AU - Chandrashekhara, K.
AU - Schuman, Thomas
AU - Sha, Jilun
PY - 2013/10
Y1 - 2013/10
N2 - Vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) is commonly used for general temperature applications (<150°C) such as boat hulls and secondary aircraft structures. With growing demands for applications of composites in elevated temperature environments, significant cost savings can be achieved by employing the VARTM process. However, implementation of the VARTM process for fabricating elevated temperature composites presents unique challenges such as high porosity and low fiber volume contents. In the present work, a low cost and reliable VARTM process is developed to manufacture elevated temperature composites for aerospace applications. Modified single vacuum bagging infusion and double vacuum bagging infusion processes were evaluated. Details of the method to obtain high quality composite parts and the challenging issues related to the manufacturing process are presented. Density and fiber volume fraction testing of manufactured panels showed that high quality composite parts with void content less than 1% have been consistently manufactured. A property database of the resin system and the composites was developed. A three-dimensional mathematical model has also been developed for flow simulation and implemented in the ABAQUS finite element package code to predict the resin flow front during the infusion process and to optimize the flow parameters. The results of the present study indicate that aircraft grade composite parts with high fiber volume fractions can be manufactured using the developed elevated temperature VARTM process.
AB - Vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) is commonly used for general temperature applications (<150°C) such as boat hulls and secondary aircraft structures. With growing demands for applications of composites in elevated temperature environments, significant cost savings can be achieved by employing the VARTM process. However, implementation of the VARTM process for fabricating elevated temperature composites presents unique challenges such as high porosity and low fiber volume contents. In the present work, a low cost and reliable VARTM process is developed to manufacture elevated temperature composites for aerospace applications. Modified single vacuum bagging infusion and double vacuum bagging infusion processes were evaluated. Details of the method to obtain high quality composite parts and the challenging issues related to the manufacturing process are presented. Density and fiber volume fraction testing of manufactured panels showed that high quality composite parts with void content less than 1% have been consistently manufactured. A property database of the resin system and the composites was developed. A three-dimensional mathematical model has also been developed for flow simulation and implemented in the ABAQUS finite element package code to predict the resin flow front during the infusion process and to optimize the flow parameters. The results of the present study indicate that aircraft grade composite parts with high fiber volume fractions can be manufactured using the developed elevated temperature VARTM process.
KW - Composite manufacturing
KW - Elevated temperature
KW - Finite element analysis
KW - Flow simulation
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U2 - 10.1002/pi.4444
DO - 10.1002/pi.4444
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84883554352
VL - 62
SP - 1465
EP - 1476
JO - British Polymer Journal
JF - British Polymer Journal
SN - 0959-8103
IS - 10
ER -