Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM) Process Incorporating Gravitational Effects: A Closed-form Solution

Abstract

Vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) is ideal for the manufacture of large-scale composite structures. However, gravitational effects on flow behavior can be significant in increasingly tall structures. In this study, an analytical solution incorporating the gravitational effects is developed to predict the flow and pressure distributions of uniform thickness preforms under vacuum infusion conditions. Injection scenarios of preforms of various lengths and inclination angles ranging from horizontal to vertical are studied. Nondimensional process parameters in terms of the resin fill time, mold angle, permeability, radius and length of injection tubes, and preform cross-sectional area for horizontal, downward, and upward injection scenarios are considered. The analytical results show good agreement with the experimental data collected in horizontal and vertical infusions. The parametric study provides insight into the design and optimization of the VARTM process for infusion of tall composite structures.

Keywords

vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM)tall structure gravitational effect resin flow front fill time

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Advani, S.G. and Sozer, E.M. (2003). Process Modeling in Composites Manufacturing, In: Manufacturing Engineering and Materials Processing, Vol. 59, Marcel Dekker, New York .

Hsiao, K.-T. , Mathur, M. , Advani, S.G. , Gillespie, Jr., J.W. and Fink, B.K. (2000). A Closed Form Solution for Flow during the Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding Process, Transactions of ASME , Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, 122: 463-475 .

Hsiao, K.-T. , Gillespie, Jr., J.W. and Advani, S.G. (2001). Role of Vacuum Pressure and Port Locations on Flow Front Control for Liquid Composite Molding Processes , Polymer Composites, 22(5): 660-667 .

Ambrosi, D. and Preziosi, L. (2000). Modeling Injection Molding Processes with Deformable Porous Preforms , Siam J. Appl. Math., 61(1): 22-42 .

Acheson, J.A. , Simacek, P. and Advani, S.G. (2004). The Implications of Fiber Compaction and Saturation on Fully Coupled VARTM Simulation , Composites: Part A, 35: 159-169 .

Correia, N.C. , Robitaille, R. , Long, A.C. , Rudd, C.D. , Simacek, P. and Advani, S.G. (2004). Use of Resin Transfer Molding Simulation to Predict Flow, Saturation, and Compaction in the VARTM Process, Transactions of the ASME , Journal of Fluid Engineering, 126: 210-215 .

Lopatnikov, S. , Simacek, P. , Gillespie, Jr., J.W. and Advani, S.G. (2004). A Closed Form Solution to Describe Infusion of Resin under Vacuum in Deformable Fibrous Porous Media , Modeling Simul. Mater. Sci. Eng., 12: 191-204 .

Ni, J. , Zhao, Y. , Lee, L.J. and Nakamura, S. (1997). Analysis of Two-regional Flow in Liquid Composite Molding , Polymer Composites, 18(2): 254-269 .

Sun, X. , Li, S. and Lee, L.J. (1998). Mold Filling Analysis in Vacuum-assisted Resin Transfer Molding, Part I: SCRIMP based on a High-permeable Medium , Polymer Composites, 19(6): 807-817 .

10.

Chen, R. , Dong, C. , Liang, Z. , Zhang, C. and Wang, B. (2004). Flow Modeling and Simulation for Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding Process with the Equivalent Permeability Method , Polymer Composites, 25(2): 146-164 .

11.

Brouwer, W.D. , van Herpt, E.C.F.C. and Labordus, M. (2003). Vacuum Injection Moulding for Large Structural Applications , Composites, Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 34: 551-558 .

12.

Uddin, N. , Shohel, M.S. , Vaidya, U.K. and Serrano-Perez, J.C. (2003). Low Cost Girder Strengthening using VARTM: A Case Study with I-565 Highway Bridge , In: The Second International Workshop on Structural Composites for Infrastructure Applications, Cairo, Egypt, December 17-18, CD ROM.

13.

Li, C.T. (2003). Numerical and Experimental Study on the Gravitation and Surface Tension Effects on Flow Injection in Center-gated Disks , Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 140: 167-172 .

14.

Kundu, P.K. and Cohen, I.M. (2002). Fluid Mechanics, 2nd edn, Academic Press, San Diego .

15.

Yoon, M.K. , Barooah, P. , Berker, B. and Sun, J.Q. (1999). Permeability and Porosity Estimation in Resin Transfer Molding Process , Journal of Materials Processing and Manufacturing Science, 7(2): 173-184 .

16.

Dominauskas, A. , Heider, D. and Gillespie, Jr., J.W. (2003). Electric Time-domain Reflectometry Sensor for Online Flow Sensing in Liquid Composite Molding Processing , Composites, Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 34: 67-74 .