Study of the curing process of carbon fiber reinforced resin matrix composites in autoclave processing

Abstract

Carbon fiber reinforced resin matrix composites (CFRP) has been widely used in aerospace due to its strong comprehensive mechanical properties and light weight. The autoclave processing is the best manufactruing methods for this material. But it still has some shortcomings, such as thermal spike in curing process, which leads to non-uniform temperature distribution, that will cause residual stress. Numerical simulation are presented to observe the curing process, such as temperature and degree of cure in the composite plate. The temperature evolution obtained in the plate is coincide with that of the experimental results. The results indicated that temperature inside of the plate increase faster than outside of the plate. thicker plate is more likely to have a thermal spike in the center of the composite plate than thin one.