Paper number 686

ANALYSIS OF MOLD FILLING IN INJECTION-COMPRESSION

Xuan-Tan Pham and François Trochu

Center for Applied Research on Polymers
Mechanical Engineering Department, Ecole Polytechnique of Montreal
P. O. BOX 6079, Station "Centre Ville", Montreal, Quebec, H3C 3A7, Canada.
Tel: (514) 340 4711 ext. 4588, Fax: (514) 340 5199

Summary

The consolidation in Compression Resin Transfer Molding (CRTM) and in flexible bladder process has been modeled by Pham et al.. First the preform is partially filled by resin during the injection phase. Then it is compressed by the mobile part of the mold. The resin flow in the fiber bed is governed by Darcy's law. The consolidation of the saturated preform is described by the total mass conservation. A filling algorithm based on resin conservation on a deformable grid is used to advance the flow front at each time step. Resin pressure and velocity are calculated by the finite element method. The numerical model allows the calculation of the resin pressure distribution and the evolution of the preform thickness. Numerical results are compared to analytical solutions and experimental results.

Keywords

CRTM, RTM, consolidation, injection-compression, finite element, filling algorithm.