Study on Compression Molding of an Intercrossed Prepreg Glass Fiber-Reinforced Plastic

Abstract

In this paper, a specimen of 80´80´3.8 mm dimensions is cut out from the prepreg intercrossed glass fiber-reinforced plastic (GFRP) and subjected to hot compression molding. The experimental flow front of the specimen is compared to the one predicted by the finite element method (FEM) based on the Galerkin method. Since the prepreg intercrossed GFRP composite is made of stacking plain weaved prepregs, the fibers' entanglement prevents the specimen slip across the mold surface. It is shown that the flow results are strongly affected by the mold-specimen friction: the slip parameter a = 100 used in the FEM flow analysis provides a close correlation of the calculated and experimental results.