A study of the factors influencing air removal in Out-of-Autoclave processing of composites

Abstract

Nowadays, manufacturing of composite parts using out-of-Autoclave (OoA) processes is gaining importance because it allows a reduction of initial investments and recurring costs. Among these technologies, the consolidation of out-of-autoclave prepregs using vacuum bag only technologies (VBO) is proven to provide high-quality composite structural parts without the need of autoclaves.  OoA prepregs are designed to be semi-impregnated creating engineered channels within the tows to evacuate internal air or volatiles generated during the cure cycle. The aim of this work is to understand and explain the void formation mechanisms, their spatial distribution and transport mechanisms during the consolidation of OoA prepregs using vacuum bag only methods. This work includes parallel studies carried out using X-ray computed tomography (XCT) to determine the most important factors for air removal process in laminated composites produced by hand lay-up (HLU) and automated fiber placement (AFP). A big challenge is the accurate monitoring of the evolution of porosity during composite curing, which has not been done so far and even less with a 3D visual technique. This combination of monitoring the dynamics of pore evolution by laboratory XCT and synchrotron tomography (SXCT) at different resolutions during a cure process will provide a profound understanding of the pore evacuation process which is strategic for the further development of OoA materials.