A thermoelastic model for in-situ consolidation of thermoplastic composites

A thermoelastic model for the calculation of stresses induced during the in -situ consolidation process for thermoplastic composites is developed. The model is composed of two infinitely long layers of orthotropic material mov ing at a constant velocity through a concentrated heat source. The two laye rs are continuously joined along the semi-infinite surface downstream of th e consolidation point. The model is developed in three stages, consisting f irst of a thermoelastic particular solution and an isothermal complementary solution for each layer and finally a solution of the mixed boundary value problem defined by the contact between the two layers. The sum of the part icular and complementary solutions satisfies the equilibrium and prescribed boundary conditions for each layer. The conditions of partial contact betw een the layers result in the existence of unknown tractions along the conta ct surface An approximate numerical procedure for the solution of these tra ctions is outlined. Numerical examples are given that illustrate the result s for a two-layer thermoelastic static contact case and for a two-layer qua si-static case simulating the thermal and transport effects of a laser-assi sted in-situ consolidation process.