CONSOLIDATION OF ADVANCED COMPOSITES HAVING VOLATILE GENERATION

Processing polyimide-based thermosetting matrix composites is complica ted because of gaseous volatiles produced during the polymerization an d crosslinking reactions. This process involves complex interactions b etween part geometry, temperature and force cycles, and matrix/fiber p roperties. A simple model for the consolidation process that treats th ese composites as a three-phase system consisting of fiber, resin, and volatile has been developed. This model has been applied to compressi on molding process for constant thickness laminates and the prediction s agree well with experiments. Further extension to handle three-dimen sional parts and the required numerical techniques have also been deve loped.