Study of Resin Transfer Moulding Process Parameters for the Manufacturing of the Sensor Nose Cone
Author
Ribeiro Fernandes, Francisco
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2016
Submitted on
2016-06-01
Pages
97
Abstract
I Resin Transfer Moulding (RTM) kan små hulrum (voids) i materialet forringe overfladekvaliteten. Denne afhandling undersøger, hvordan tre RTM-procesindstillinger – vakuumassistance, injektionstryk og hydrostatisk tryk – påvirker hulrumsindholdet og overfladens kvalitet i et laminat, med fokus på en komponent kaldet Sensor Nose Cone. RTM er en proces, hvor flydende harpiks injiceres i en lukket form for at fremstille et laminat; vakuumassistance kan hjælpe med at fjerne luft, injektionstryk driver harpiksen ind i formlen, og hydrostatisk tryk er et ensartet ydre tryk på emnet. Arbejdet fulgte en totrins, iterativ tilgang med en mellemliggende læringsfase. Først blev en indledende hypotese for Sensor Nose Cone defineret og afprøvet på baggrund af litteraturen. Derefter blev en mellemliggende læringsfase gennemført som et 2-niveaus faktorforsøg, der systematisk varierede procesparametrene for at kortlægge tendenser. Til sidst blev en ny hypotese defineret og implementeret baseret på resultaterne fra denne læringsfase. Resultaterne viser, at en kombination af lavt injektionstryk og højt hydrostatisk tryk gav en bedre overfladekvalitet på Sensor Nose Cone. Vakuumassistance forbedrede ikke overfladekvaliteten for denne komponent, men gav fordele for plane plader i de planlagte forsøg. Det konkluderes, at denne forskel kan skyldes, at de planlagte forsøg ikke fuldt ud afspejlede de reelle forhold for Sensor Nose Cone. Samlet giver studiet en mere praktisk forståelse af, hvordan justering af centrale RTM-parametre kan reducere hulrum og forbedre overfladen, afhængigt af geometri og forsøgsopsætning.
In Resin Transfer Moulding (RTM), tiny voids inside the material can harm the surface finish. This thesis examines how three RTM process settings—vacuum assistance, injection pressure, and hydrostatic pressure—affect void content and surface quality in a laminate, focusing on a component called the Sensor Nose Cone. RTM injects liquid resin into a closed mould to form a laminate; vacuum assistance can help remove air, injection pressure drives the resin into the part, and hydrostatic pressure is an overall external pressure applied to the component. The work followed a two-stage, iterative approach with an intermediate learning step. First, an initial hypothesis for the Sensor Nose Cone was defined and implemented based on the reviewed literature. Next, the intermediate learning step used a two-level factorial design that systematically varied the process parameters to map trends. Finally, a new hypothesis was defined and implemented based on the learning step’s results. The study found that using a low injection pressure together with a high hydrostatic pressure led to better surface quality for the Sensor Nose Cone. Vacuum assistance did not improve the surface quality for this component, but it did provide benefits for flat panels in the designed experiments. The thesis concludes that this difference may be because the designed experiments did not fully represent the real conditions for the Sensor Nose Cone. Overall, the study offers practical insight into how adjusting key RTM parameters can reduce voids and improve surface finish, depending on geometry and test setup.
[This abstract was generated with the help of AI]
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