Abstract
Owing to high processing temperatures, the residual stresses in thermoplastic composites are inevitable. These residual stresses lead to a reduction in the enclosed angle in channel or angle components. This reduction in enclosed angle is referred to as spring-in. In addition, the residual stresses may cause defects such as delamination, fibre waviness, microcracking, etc. This paper investigates the use of a spring-in model to assist with the design of a mould system for an aileron rib. The aileron rib was manufactured from carbon fibre/polyetherimide (CF/PEI) thermoplastic composite material by compression moulding technique. Through microscopic examination and void content measurement, the necessary processing temperature range was determined. The spring-in angle was then predicted based on this processing temperature and an allowance for this was made during tool design. Experimental results showed that there was good agreement between theoretical predictions and the final part angles.
Published Version
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