PERMEABILITY MEASUREMENT OF BIDIRECTIONAL WOVEN GLASS-FIBERS

In the composites manufacturing processes such as resin transfer moldi ng (RTM), pultrusion, autoclave, and compression molding, the mechanis m and resistance of resin how through fiber reinforcements have an imp ortant effect on the final part quality. Because of the anisotropic ch aracteristics of the fiber reinforcements, the flow resistance is diff erent in various directions. To study the mechanisms of resin impregna tion during the fabrication of the fiber reinforced composites, it is important to investigate the permeabilities of the fiber reinforcement s first. This study proposes an indirect measuring method to obtain th e fiber permeabilities. The proposed method can avoid the edge effect and greatly simplify the procedures in the permeability measurements. Reliable and repeatable permeability data can be obtained using this t echnique.