LAMINATE TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTIONS AND PIPING TIME PREDICTION DURING NONISOTHERMAL IMPREGNATION OF FIBER PREFORMS

The resin temperature distributions in a heated mould during the impre gnation stage of resin transfer moulding have been investigated in thi s work. Effects such as the fibre content, the filling time and the mo uld and preform temperatures have been evaluated. It was shown that th e fibre content and the filling time effects on the resin temperature distributions are less significant than the mould and preform temperat ures. It was also shown that approximately 70% of the resin temperatur e increase is obtained within a flow path length of 12.5 cm. These tre nds led to the development of an empirical relation used to evaluate t he influence on fill times of non-isothermal effects during filling.