Prediction of the vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) process considering the directional permeability of sheared woven fabric

Abstract

In this study, the in-plane permeability of a woven composite was characterized with respect to the fiber orientation of the deformed woven fabric, to predict the vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) process. An analytical model was suggested to predict the permeability of shear-deformed woven fabric and the model was compared to the experiment results. Based on the developed model, the VARTM process for the U-shaped composite structure was simulated using commercial software (Pam-Form and Pam-RTM). The simulation results were compared with that of the VARTM experiment. Considering the fiber directional permeability of the shear-deformed woven fabric, it was concluded that the VARTM simulation could accurately predict the VARTM process results such as the filling time and flow front pattern.