Processing Envelopes for Supplemental Internal Resistive Heating during Thermosetting Composites Cure

Abstract

Reducing the processing time, while ensuring a desired product quality is vital to lowering the cost of composites. The use of embedded conductive carbon mats, generating supplemental internal resistive heating, offers the potential to achieve this objective, and forms the focus of the present study. This paper presents a numerical model, validated by experiments, for a parametric investigation of the cure process. Based on the parametric study, processing windows are identified by considering practical constraints. Furthermore, the optimal number of carbon mats embedded in the composite and their power density are determined as a function of the dimensionless parameter with the objective of minimizing the cure time while simultaneously satisfying the practical constraints.

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