Abstract
AbstractThermoplastic‐matrix composite products are fabricated by applying heat and pressure to contacting thermoplastic surfaces, and consolidating the interface. The combined processes of interfacial contact area increase, referred to as intimate contact, and polymer interdiffusion (healing) across the interfacial areas in contact are responsible for the development of interlaminar bond strength in the composite products. In this paper, a model for the healing process under nonisothermal conditions is presented starting from a fundamental formulation of the reptation of polymer chains. The healing model is coupled with an intimate contact model based on a fractal representation of the asperity structures on thermoplastic tow surfaces, to provide a comprehensive description of the interfacial bond strength evolution during nonisothermal processing. Nondimensional analysis is used to identify the ranges of a parameter, introduced as the fusion bonding number, which correspond to the interfacial bonding process being healing‐limited, intimate‐contact‐limited, or equally dominated by both mechanisms.
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