An experimental study of the permeability and capillary pressure in resin-transfer moulding

This paper addresses issues of the inter-relationship between the permeabil ity and capillary pressure in in-plane infiltration of assemblies of woven fabrics. Rectilinear infiltration experiments of assemblies of a plain-weav e fabric at various low injection pressures were carried out to evaluate pe rmeability and capillary pressure (P.) for the woven fibre preform. Capilla ry pressure and the form factor, F, for the Young-Laplace equation were als o estimated and a normalised capillary pressure was used to compare the Pc values found at different porosities. Regarding the estimation of permeabil ity, it has been shown that the higher the injection pressure, the lower th e associated error of not including P, into the permeability calculation. W hen a corrected permeability was calculated taking into account the capilla ry pressure effect, the permeability proved to be independent of the inject ion pressure and the permeating fluid. An increase in permeability was foun d for pre-wetted fabrics in comparison to dry fabrics. (C) 2001 Elsevier Sc ience Ltd. All rights reserved.