Modeling and experimental validation of the vartm process

Paper in proceeding, 2019

The vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) process is broadly used for producing large-scale and thin-walled fiber reinforced polymer composite (FRPC) components. The characteristics of the resin flow and the fibrous preform deformation, e.g., thickness variations, significantly affect the cycle time and quality of final products. To predict and simulate the process in a computationally efficient manner, we treat the 3-D resin flow as in-plane flow; and limit the preform deformation only in the normal of the mold surface. A vacuum infusion experiment is carried out for calibration and validation. The comparison shows a good match between the simulation and the experiment results. The present model efficiently predicts realistic results of the preform thickness variation and the flow front location.