Modeling of the filling process during resin injection/compression molding

The filling process of resin injection/compression molding (I/CM) can be divided into injection and compression phases. During the resin injection the mold is kept only partially closed and thus a gap is present between the reinforcements and the upper mold. The gap results in preferential flow path. After the gap is filled with the resin, the compression action initiates and forces the resin to penetrate into the fiber preform. In the present study, the resin flow in the gap is simplified by using the Stokes approximation, while Darcy's law is used to calculate the flow field in the fiber mats. Results show that most of the injected resins enter into the gap during the injection phase. The resin injection time is extremely short so the duration of the filling process is determined by the final closing action of the mold cavity. Compared with resin transfer molding (RTM), I/CM process can reduce the mold filling time or injection pressure significantly.