Modeling of Molding of Composite Products on Prepreg Basis

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AbstractThe unique set of properties of polymeric composite materials offers many opportunities for improvement of the existing designs and technological processes and development of new ones. The main purpose of the composite product molding process is to establish the optimal relationship between the process parameters, which provide specified quality of the product at minimum energy costs. In this context, there is a need for modeling of the molding process, which would describe physical and chemical processes occurring in the molded polymeric composite material. New method for studying the main parameters of the composite product molding process on prepreg basis has been developed. This method allows calculating theoretically the optimal temperature and time diagram and dependence of the molding pressure on the time for specific binders and reinforcing materials. It is offered to divide the binder viscosity into physical and chemical components. The physical component excludes the presence of chemical transformations and depends on the temperature only. The chemical component is associated with chemical transformations; it is a function of the temperature and time. The method for experimental determination of the minimum total viscosity of the binder, as well as degree of polymerization, from the temperature and time, is proposed. The mathematical model of filling with a binder of specified viscosity through inter-fiber space of the reinforcing material has been developed. Analytical dependence of the molding pressure on the viscosity, geometric parameters of the molded product, prepreg, monolayer of the polymeric composite material and molding time is obtained. The results allow optimizing the main stages of the temperature and time diagram of the composite product molding cycle, which will provide minimization of the energy costs.KeywordsTemperature and time diagramViscosityFilling with binderReinforcing materialMolding pressure