Open Access

ARTICLE

Use of Flow Simulation to Develop Robust Injection and Vent Schemes that Account for Process and Material Variability in Liquid Composite Molding Process

by J. Wang¹, E. Andres, P. Simacek, S.G.Advani

1 Department of Mechanical Engineering and Center for Composite Materials, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716.

Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences 2012, 88(3), 155-182. https://doi.org/10.3970/cmes.2012.088.155

Abstract

In Liquid Composite Molding (LCM) processes, the process design requires an infusion and venting scheme which will saturate all the empty spaces between the fibers during mold filling resulting in a composite part without voids. However, the inherent material and process variability can change the filling patterns significantly which complicate this task. The objective of this work is to develop methodologies and tools to automate infusion process design and integrate it within the CAD design environment. The methodologies and algorithms developed examine the designed part geometry and material layups for ease of manufacturing with feasible infusion schemes by accounting for the inherent variability of the material and preform layup during the infusion processes. To accomplish this, the integrated tool has to automatically identify possible regions that are likely to introduce variability in resin flow, such as racetracking channels near corners, edges and inserts, which will cause dramatically different resin flow patterns and could result in voids. These possible scenarios are then simulated and evaluated to formulate an injection and venting scheme that is sufficiently robust to manufacture a part without any voids despite these variations. An example is presented to demonstrate the methodology of infusion design which identifies and accounts for material variability introduced due to geometric features.

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Keywords

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