Abstract
The compressive deformation of reinforcements is an important consideration for many composites manufacturing processes. The apparent viscoelastic behavior of three common Liquid Composite Molding reinforcements has been studied, and the implications for modeling mold filling processes discussed. Though no resin was present, these fibrous structures have displayed complex time-dependent response, including loading hysteresis, stress relaxation, and strain rate dependent loading behavior. Stress relaxations have been observed to be as high as 64% of the peak stress, with the magnitude of relaxation being dependent on the preform fiber volume fraction. Increasing peak stresses are generated with faster strain rates, and two of the materials studied displayed stress relaxation sensitive to the initial strain rate. Two mold filling experiments are also presented, demonstrating the significant influence of preform viscoelasticity, and providing motivation for further study of these effects.
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