| In the composite materials industry, Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) has become widely accepted as an efficient and reliable method to manufacture composite parts. During the last decade, several improvements have been added to the RTM process. Using an active cover compression, the Compression Resin Transfer Molding (CRTM) process allows an important filling time reduction. Vacuum Assisted Resin Infusion (VARI) reduce the overall process cost by using flexible covers, either a plastic film or an elastic membrane. As with many emerging technologies, modeling and simulation play a key role in understanding the phenomena that govern the process. The modeling of resin flow through a deformable fiber bed, mainly based on Darcy's law and the equations of consolidation, is still the focus of much research effort. In the following investigation, models of CRTM and VARI are presented, based on a formulation of the resin mass balance to predict injection time and mold cavity deformation during the filling stage. Models are implemented in order to conduct a comparative study of the different flexible injection technologies. These models are then transformed to lead to a fast filling algorithm for standard RTM simulation. From this algorithm, a new coefficient "Mold Filling Coefficient" is proposed to compare different mold designs. Finally, the fast filling simulation is also used to predict the effects of permeability variation on the injection. |
