Abstract
Vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) is a very suitable solution for composite manufacturing industry. It allows the manufacturing of large and complex shape parts at low costs. However, the simulation of this process is complicated due to myriad physical phenomena involved, specifically the strong coupling between the resin flow and the preform compressibility, i.e. hydro-mechanical coupling. Moreover, the use of the distribution medium involves two types of flow: Planar flow and through-the-thickness flow. These flows cannot be considered together by a 2D model. On the other hand, 3D models require an important amount of computation time. This article presents a VARTM modeling approach that takes into account the hydro-mechanical coupling and the coexistence of planar and transverse flows. The proposed modeling approach allows the simulation of the infusion process in the case of multilayer preform with different materials and orientations, including the distribution medium. This model is validated experimentally based on several infusions.
Highlights
Vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) is a closed mold process that allows the manufacturing of high-performance composite parts
It is known as vacuum infusion (VI),[1] vacuum bag resin transfer molding (VBRTM),[2] resin injection under flexible tooling (RIFT),[3] Seemann composites resin infusion molding process (SCRIMPTM)[4] and liquid resin infusion (LRI).[5]
The experimental results are limited to 318 mm, which is the digital image correlation (DIC) camera field of vision
Summary
Vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) is a closed mold process that allows the manufacturing of high-performance composite parts. We propose a model of mold filling by VARTM that takes into account the HM coupling with both planar and transverse flows This model is based on a multilayer approach that is less time consuming than 3D modeling. The fluid flow through deformable fibrous media has been studied by many authors.[9,10,11,12,30] In this study, we use the model proposed by Kempner and Hahn.[31] This model is based on Darcy equation[32] and the mass conservation equation in a deformable elementary representative volume (ERV) The combination of these equations leads to the following governing equation of the resin pressure P rÀKij rP.
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