Sharif Digital Repository

The role of initiators with different reactivities on the process cycle of nonisothermal resin transfer molding (RTM) was examined using the numerical simulation. A new process model was developed based on flow, heat and mass transfer equations combined with an appropriate mechanistic kinetics model which elucidates the functions of the initiators in the system. The process cycle of RTM with both single initiator and dual-initiator (combination of two initiators) was analyzed. The numerical simulations revealed that the single initiator with high reactivity reduces the cycle time, but there is a risk of incomplete mold filling and nonuniform temperature distribution. For dual-initiator... 

Unidirectional experiments were carried out for the evaluation of the unsaturated permeability of the reinforcement during the injection and the saturated permeability. Saturated permeability was found to govern the permanent flow established after filling of the cavity. The unsaturated permeability was evaluated by a linear regression in function of the position of the resin front during transient flow experiments performed at constant injection pressure. The difference between these two permeability values is also related to the pore structure of the fiber bed  

Numerical simulation of resin transfer molding (RTM) is known as a useful method to analyze the process before the mold is actually built. In thick parts, the resin flow is no longer two-dimensional and must be simulated in a fully three-dimensional space. This article presents numerical simulations of three-dimensional non-isothermal mold filling of the RTM process. The control volume/finite element method (CV/FEM) is used in this study. Numerical formulation for resin flow is based on the concept of nodal partial saturation at the flow front. This approach permits to include a transient term in the working equation, removing the need for calculation of time step to track the flow front in... 

In the present investigation, mold filling process of resin injection/compression molding (RI/CM) is compared with resin transfer molding (RTM) for simple mold geometry. To do this, analytical solutions are obtained for RI/CM in unidirectional flow. Based on the analytical solutions, flow front progression and pressure distribution are compared with RTM at different fiber content. The results indicate that the RI/CM reduces the mold filling time significantly, particularly for composite parts with higher fiber content  

In compression resin transfer moulding (CRTM), resin flows inside a mould filled with fibrous reinforcement as a result of resin injection and mould compression. This process facilitates the resin flow through the fibrous reinforcement particularly for high fiber content parts. This paper presents the numerical simulation of filling process of CRTM in full three-dimensional domain. A mathematical model of three-dimensional resin flow inside the CRTM mould is presented. An effective elastic modulus is introduced for multi-layer preforms connecting the mould closing speed to deformation rate of individual layers. Control volume/finite element method (CV/FEM) is used and the numerical algorithm... 

Recently, the interaction of electromagnetic waves with conducting interfaces has been studied and several applications have been proposed. In these structures a free two-dimensional interface charge layer is generated at the dielectric interfaces and interesting phenomena are observed. In this paper, the effect of finite charge layer thickness and its asymptotic behaviour towards the conducting interface, where the thin charge layer is modelled via a surface conductivity σs, is thoroughly studied for the first time. Two different regimes are considered: first, propagation of optical waves through subwavelength free charge layers and their corresponding reflection and transmission... 

A process cycle of resin transfer molding (RTM) consists of two sequential stages, i.e. filling and curing stages. These two stages are interrelated in non-isothermal processes so that the curing stage is dominated by the resin flow as well as temperature and conversion distributions during the filling stage. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account both filling and curing stages to analyze the process cycle accurately. In this paper, a full three-dimensional process cycle simulation of RTM is performed. Full three-dimensional analysis is necessary for thick parts or parts having complex shape. A computer code is developed based on the control volume/finite element method (CV/FEM).... 

A numerical analysis for determination of the stagnant and dispersion thermal conductivities in the Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) process is presented. A solution was obtained for the momentum and energy equations, which are used in this study and which represent the Brinkman- Forchheimer-extended Darcy model, and one-temperature energy equation. Subject to the appropriate boundary conditions, the governing equations are solved by the finite volume method on a collocated grid. In order to satisfy the pressure-velocity coupling in the solution, the SIMPLE algorithm was used and for determining the mass flux flowing past the cell faces, the Rhie-Chow interpolation was applied. Both constant and... 

In resin injection/compression molding (RI/CM), a preform often comprises layers of different fiber reinforcements. Each fiber reinforcement has unique through thickness and in-plane permeabilities as well as compressibility, creating a heterogeneous porous medium in the mold cavity. In the present article, numerical simulation is utilized to investigate the filling process of RI/CM in such a heterogeneous porous medium. The filling stage is simulated in a full three-dimensional space by using control volume/finite element method and based upon an appropriate filling algorithm. The flow in the open gap which may be present in the mold cavity is modeled by Darcy's law using an equivalent... 

Thermal conductivity, thermal dispersion, and structural effects in resin transfer molding (RTM) process are studied numerically. The injection part of the RTM process is modeled as a transport of resin flow through a fibrous porous medium in a long rectangular channel. The fluid flow is modeled using the Darcy-Brinkman-Forchheimer model and the heat transfer process using the energy equation based on local thermal equilibrium assumption. Both isotropic and anisotropic heat transfer in porous media are investigated. The governing equations are solved numerically for the isotropic heat transfer case and analytically for the anisotropic case. The numerical results are fitted to the available... 

In the present study a finite difference method has been developed to model the transient fluid flow and heat transfer. A single fluid has been selected for modeling of mold filling and The SOLA-VOF 3D technique was modified to increase the accuracy of simulation of filling phenomena for shape castings. The model was then evaluated with the experimental methods. Refereeing to the experimental and simulation results a good consistency and the accuracy of the suggested model are confirmed. © 2005 Published by Elsevier B.V