A novel method of manufacturing rigid and robust natural fiber preforms is presented here. This method is based on a papermaking process, whereby loose and short sisal fibers are dispersed into a water suspension containing bacterial cellulose. The fiber and nanocellulose suspension is then filtered (using vacuum or gravity) and the wet filter cake pressed to squeeze out any excess water, follo...

Resin transfer moulding (RTM) is a widely used process for manufacturing composite parts. It is currently gaining market shares compared to autoclave process in particular for high performance applications, such as aerospace, thanks to its higher versatility permitting the manufacturing of complex and high quality composite parts in fairly short cycle times. The major disadvantage of RTM remain...

In Resin Transfer Molding (RTM), resin precursors of thermoset or, more recently, thermoplastic polymers are generally employed, raising issues related to the chemical reaction taking place during and after part processing. this study, already polymerized polyamide-6 with low melt-viscosity (~30 Pa·s at 280 °C), is injected pressure (<30 bar) in a custom-made mold, so as impregnate glass fabric...

A simplified approach for estimating weld lines, vent locations and fill times for resin transfer molding applications in non-planar geometry is presented. The molding parts are treated as polyhedral spaces for which the concept of Voronoi diagram and shortest paths is utilized to predict the formation of weld lines, location of vents and filling times. The approach is based purely on geometric...

Fiber metal laminates (FMLs) have been successfully manufactured by the vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) process developed at NASA Langley Research Center. A flow visualization fixture of the FML, VARTM process was constructed and used to observe the resin infiltration process. Results of the flow visualization experiments are reported and compared with the predictions of a VARTM ...

The RTM (Resin Transfer Molding) manufacturing process is largely used for the fabrication of textile composites. During forming phase, deformations composite reinforcements at mesoscopic scale, such as positions, orientations, and changes in sections deformed yarns, are essential to calculate permeability reinforcement injection phase evaluate mechanical behaviors final products. However, mode...

The main objective of this work is to compare the difference between microwave heating and conventional thermal heating in fabricating carbon/epoxy composites. Two types of epoxy resin systems were used as matrices, LY5052-HY5052 and DGEBA-HY917-DY073. All composite samples were fabricated using resin transfer moulding (RTM) technique. The curing of the LY5052-HY5052-carbon and the DGEBA-HY917-...