Measurements of the permeability of fiber preforms and applications

Preform permeability is a key issue in the design of molds and processes an d in flow modeling. Because of capillary effects, the current methods for p ermeability measurement may bring large errors for aerospace applications w hen capillary effects are not neglected because of the high fiber contents. A new technique has been developed for the measurement of the permeabiliti es of anisotropic fiber preforms with a high fiber content. In this method, four pressure transducers are used to measure the pressure distribution in a radial flow. In this way, permeabilities in different directions can be determined. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.