Resin impregnation during composites manufacturing: Theory and experimentation

An experimental investigation into the area of resin impregnation during the manufacturing of composite materials is undertaken. The study is specifically directed at furthering the degree of understanding of the resin transfer molding and resin film stacking manufacturing processes. An additional goal of the present work is the testing of a previously developed numerical model for simulating such processes. The experimentation performed consists of the fully monitored impregnation of resin into a thin mold containing a three-dimensional reinforcement fiber composite preform material. Experimental results for two cases involving highly anisotopic resin impregnation are compared to corresponding numerical results. Reasonable agreement between the two sets of results is found to exist and suggestions are made as to future work which could further increase the technical understanding of such processes.