Material Characterization for Reliable Resin Transfer Molding Process Simulation

Abstract

Resin transfer molding (RTM) technologies are widely used in automotive, marine, and aerospace applications. The need to evaluate the impact of design and production critical choices, also in terms of final costs, leads to the wider use of numerical simulation in the preliminary phase of component development. The main issue for accurate RTM analysis is the reliable characterization of the involved materials. The aim of this paper is to present a validated methodology for material characterization to be implemented and introduce data elaboration in the ESI PAM-RTM software. Experimental campaigns for reinforcement permeabilities and resin viscosity measurement are presented and discussed. Finally, the obtained data are implemented in the software and then compared to experimental results in order to validate the described methodology.