Vacuum infusion equipment design and the influence of reinforcement layers addition to the resin infusion time

Abstract

The characteristic of composite material is greatly influenced by the manufacture method of composite. The conventional method that has been used such as hand lay-up and spray up are simple and easy to apply but the composite tend to have a void in it because of the air trapped during the manufacture process. Vacuum infusion is one of the modern composite manufacture process which can replace the conventional method. The problem of this method happens when the resin infusion time become longer due to the addition of reinforcement layers. When the resin infusion time is longer than the resin's gel time, the resin will become gel and not able to flow into the mold. In order to overcome this problem, a study that observe the influence of reinforcement layers addition to the resin infusion time is needed. In this study, vacuum infusion equipment for composite materials manufacturing process that are designed consists of: 1×1m glass as the mold, 1L PVC tube for the resin container, 1L glass tube for the resin trap, and ‘A HP vacuum pump with 7 CFM vacuum speed. The resin that is used in this study is unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) and the fiber used as reinforcement is fiber glass. It is observed that the more number of reinforcement layers the longer resin infusion time will be. The resin infusion time (in seconds) from two until six layers respectively for the area of 15×20cm are: 88, 115, 145, 174, 196; for the area of 15×25cm are: 119, 142, 168, 198, 235; and for the area of 15×35cm are: 181, 203, 235, 263, 303. The maximum reinforcement layers that can be accommodated for each 15×20cm, 15×25cm, and 15×35cm area are respectively 31 layers, 29 layers, and 25 layers.