Numerical characterization of mold injection in resin transfer molding process

Abstract

A control volume technique based on the finite difference method is used to characterize the flow behavior in resin transfer molding (RTM) of composite structures. Resin flow through fiber mats is modeled as a two‐phase flow through porous media. The transient time terms are considered, and the concept of the fraction volume of fluid (VOF) is applied in order to accurately describe the behavior of the free boundary at the interface between the two fluids involved in the process, the resin and the air. Flow experiments in a transparent mold were performed to verify the numerical model. Experimental results on flow behavior of EPON 826 epoxy resin into irregular mold cavity with fiberglass mats agree well with the present numerical simulation. Several parametric studies using the developed model are conducted to investigate the effects of injection pressure and mold design on resin flow pattern, mold filling time, and pressure distribution inside the mold. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Adv Polym Techn 19: 173–179, 2000

A numerical investigation of the resin flow front tracking applied to the RTM process

“…Results obtained with the developed code, which will hereafter be called CVFES (Control Volume Finite Element Solver), were compared with the solution obtained with the FLUENT software 23 . In this software, the VOF method 26,33 , combined with the porous media formulation, is used to track the advancement of the resin inside the mold cavity. Identical grids were used in both codes.…”

Determinação Numérico-Experimental da Permeabilidade Transversal em Problemas de RTM

“…Em ambos os casos, diversas variáveis merecem cuidado especial e fatores como velocidade do escoamento, definição da pressão de injeção, tempo de cura, permeabilidade transversal, entre outros, são pontos que despertam o interesse da comunidade científica e já foram discutidas na literatura (Calado et al (1996), Kuan et al (2000), Rouison et al (2004), Alves (2006) e Amorim (2007). Destaca-se que a definição correta dos aspectos citados anteriormente pode evitar que o compósito produzido tenha problemas estruturais.…”

Resin transfer molding process: a numerical and experimental investigation

“…Further, there are non-dedicated commercial software commonly used to study CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) such as Ansys CFX® and FLUENT, both from ANSYS and Abaqus CFD from Simula Abaqus, which are simulation tools for fluid mechanics and heat transfer problems, capable of working with complex geometries and simulate the resin's advancement and curing within the mold. Several authors have studied the process of resin transfer molding by simulations, such as: Kuan et al [9], Hattabi et al [10], Machado et al [11], Sánchez et al [12] and Luz et al [13].…”

“…Kuan et al [9] reports that a control volume technique based on the finite difference method is used to characterize the flow behavior in resin transfer molding (RTM) of composite structures. Resin flow through fiber mats is modeled as a two-phase flow through porous media.…”