Numerical Investigation of Mold Heating Power and Time in Metal Layered Composite Production

Abstract

Curing time of epoxy resin is an important phenomenon in the production of metal layered composites. In order to reduce the curing time, the heating of the mold and epoxy was carried out in this study and numerically investigated on time dependent. The most consistent mesh structure was chosen among five different mesh number in terms of difference between temperature results. 10 different cases were created to examine different heater powers and different operating patterns. The results were examined by creating a temperature-time graph and contours showing the temperature distribution. As the number of cartridges and heater power increase, higher temperatures are reached in a shorter time. Even with the same heater power, different operating patterns can lead to differences in results in terms of temperature. Different operating pattern was seen as an independent parameter in heater power for obtaining a homogeneous temperature distribution.