A review on numerical optimization in liquid composite moulding processes

Abstract

Abstract Liquid Composite Moulding (LCM) processes became popular for producing near-net shape structural composite parts over traditional methods. However, some critical issues arise during making of the composite part using LCM processes. This article presents the literature review on prevention methodologies of process induced defects in LCM which arises mainly in the mold filling and curing stage. Different numerical methods are developed for reducing the flow induced defects like macro-voids, dry spot and micro-voids formation and cure induced defects like matrix micro-cracks and geometrical distortions. Currently, researchers are attracting towards heuristics techniques such as Genetic Algorithm (GA), especially for the development of Multi-objective optimization (MOO) problems, to optimize multiple conflicting objectives simultaneously. The lack of connection between the selection of optimization technique and process induced defects are highlighted in the future work.