Journal
JOURNAL OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS
Volume 51, Issue 13, Pages 1911-1924Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
DOI: 10.1177/0021998316665681
Keywords
Prepreg; microstructures; optical microscopy; consolidation; manufacturing
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Funding
- EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Composites project 'Defect Generation Mechanisms in Thick and Variable Thickness Composite Parts - Understanding, Predicting and Mitigation' [EP/I033513/1]
- EPSRC [EP/I033513/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [EP/I033513/1] Funding Source: researchfish
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This paper presents a methodology and research study that characterises toughened materials, as is needed for optimisation of composite manufacturing processes. The specific challenge is to cover all of the stages of advanced composite manufacturing: fibre deposition by automatic fibre placement machines, hot or room temperature debulking, and consolidation in an autoclave. In these processes the material experiences a wide range of processing parameters: pressure, load rate, temperatures, and boundary constraints. In these conditions, toughened prepregs exhibit complex rheological behaviour, with diverse flow and deformation mechanisms at various structural scales. Here a series of experimental results are presented in order to describe the temperature, viscosity, flow mechanisms, and scale-effects of simple uncured prepreg stacks. The driver for this study is to obtain a further understanding of flow mechanisms throughout the consolidation phase of composites manufacture since fibre path defects are most likely to occur during compaction, prior to vitrification.
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