Study of Resin Transfer Moulding Process Parameters for the Manufacturing of the Sensor Nose Cone

Ribeiro Fernandes, Francisco

4. term

Manufacturing Technology, Master

2016

2016-06-01

97 pages

Reducing void content in components produced via Resin Transfer Moulding (RTM) is one of the challenges for improving the surface quality achieved with this manufacturing process. This thesis is an attempt to understand the impact of RTM process parameters vacuum assistance, injection pressure and hydrostatic pressure, in the void content and in the surface quality of the laminate. To perform this study it was devised a strategy that consisted in two iterative stage processes, which were intercalated by an intermediate learning process. The first stage consisted in defining and implementing an initial hypothesis for the Sensor Nose Cone, based on information collected from the reviewed literature. Afterwards, the intermediate learning process was planned based on a factorial design at two levels, which allowed to analyse behavioural trends caused by changes in the process parameters. At last, the second stage consisted in defining and implementing a hypothesis based on the results of the intermediate learning process. The results obtained in this study showed that using a combination of a low injection pressure value combined with a high hydrostatic pressure have contributed to a better surface quality of the Sensor Nose Cone. Additionally, despite the use of vacuum assistance did not have shown a positive influence for the Sensor Nose Cone surface quality, it provided benefits when applied to flat panels in the designed experiments. It was concluded that this may have been due to the fact that the designed experiments did not represent the true state of nature for the Sensor Nose Cone scenario.

resin transfer moulding; vacuum assistance; injection pressure; hydrostatic pressure; voids in composite laminates; surface quality in composite laminates.

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