Effect of rapid curing process on the properties of carbon fiber/epoxy composite fabricated using vacuum assisted resin infusion molding |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Integrity Management Group, TWI Ltd, Great Abington, CB21 6AL, UK;2. Joining Technologies Group, TWI Ltd, Great Abington, CB21 6AL, UK;3. The Composites Centre, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK;1. Huntsman Advanced Materials, Senior Scientist, Composites & Tooling;2. Lead Technical Manager, Composites One;1. Uppsala University, Department of Engineering Sciences, Division of Applied Mechanics, SE-75121 Uppsala, Sweden;2. GKN Aerospace, SE-46181 Trollhattan, Sweden;3. Materials Research Group, Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom;4. Manufacturing Engineering Technology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA;1. School of Engineering, Faculty of Science Engineering and Built Environment, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, VIC 3217, Australia;2. Sir Lawrence Wackett Aerospace Research Centre, School of Aerospace, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Engineering, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia;3. Simuserv Pty. Ltd, Melbourne, VIC 3123, Australia |
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| Abstract: | Long processing cycle makes vacuum assisted resin infusion molding (VARIM) only suitable for low and medium volumes of production, and shortening of curing time is critical to improving the processing efficiency of automotive composite parts. In this paper, unidirectional carbon fiber reinforced composite laminates were fabricated by VARIM. Three different processes (namely quick, quick-post and preheating) were employed, in which a kind of rapid curing epoxy resin is used. The preheating of mold and fiber was conducted to shorten the filling time compared with that of quick process. Quick-post process with a post cure stage was investigated to verify the composite properties fabricated by quick process. The cycle time was 16 min for preheating process, about 30% shorter than that of quick process, simultaneously, flexural strength and interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) were respectively improved by 29% and 7% compared with those of quick process. The non-uniformity of mechanical properties at different positions along resin flow direction under preheating process was found, but the processing quality of composite was good. The preheating process is confirmed to be suitable for the improvement of processing efficiency of VARIM with good mechanical properties. In addition, the composite fabricated by quick-post process has better mechanical properties, which is attributed to the alleviation of residual stress during post curing process. |
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| Keywords: | Carbon fiber composite Epoxy resin Rapid cure Preheating Vacuum assisted resin infusion molding (VARIM) |
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