Tackification of textile fiber preforms in resin transfer molding

Tackified textile fiber preforms are used widely in resin transfer molding (RTM) to produce aerospace-grade composite parts. To optimize the preformin g process, a thorough understanding of many important material and process issues, such as fabric formability, preform dimension control, preform perm eability, fiber wetting, and tackifier compatibility with the matrix resin, is essential. These issues are investigated based on a commercial tackifie r (PT 500 from 3M). The results show that tackifier concentration, tackifie r powder size, and the application conditions all play important roles in g overning the moldability of tackified fiber preforms.