Consolidation and Cure Simulations for Laminated Composites

Abstract

Advanced fiber reinforced polymer composites have been increasingly used in various structural components. One of the important processes to fabricate high performance laminated composites is an autoclave assisted prepreg lay-up. Since the quality of laminated composites is largely affected by the cure cycle, selection of the cure cycle for each application is important and must be optimized. Thus, some fundamental model of consolidation and cure processes is necessary to properly select suitable parameters for each application. This article develops a finite element code, which combines ‘the consolidation model’ with ‘the thermo-chemical model’ during the autoclave processing of composite materials. Numerical examples, including comparison of the present numerical results with one-dimensional (1-D) and 2-D analytical solutions, are given to indicate the accuracy and effectiveness of the finite element formulation. In addition, using the finite element code, the 1-D cure process of a laminate made of 52 plies of AS4/3501-6 unidirectional tape is simulated and some numerical results are compared with experimental results available in the literature.