• Composites Research
• /
• v.31 no.6
• /
• pp.304-310
• /
• 2018

Autoclave process has been remaining as one of the most robust and stable process in fabricating structural composite part of aerospace industry. It has lots of advantages, however exhibits some disadvantages or limitations in capital investment and operation. Recently, there have been various Out-of-Autoclave process being researched and developed to overcome those limitations. In this study, laminate specimens were fabricated using LCM (Liquid Composite Molding) process, regarded as one of potential OoA process. DB (Double bagging), CAPRI (Controlled Atmospheric Pressure Resin Infusion), VAP (Vacuum Assisted Process) and Autoclave process were used for laminate specimens. Void content, Thickness, Tg (Glass Transition Temperature), ILSS (Interlaminar Shear Strength) and Flexural strength properties were evaluated for comparison. It is verified that Autoclave based specimen has uniform thickness distribution, the lowest void content and outstanding mechanical properties. And, CAPRI based specimen exhibits relatively good physical and mechanical properties over DB and VAP based specimen and comparable mechanical properties with autoclave based specimen.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.71-77
• /
• 2023

Liquid Composite Molding (LCM), an Out of Autoclave (OoA) composite manufacturing process, has big advantages when making large and complex structures of airplanes. Since the importance of LCM process is increasing, FAA has suggested recommended guidance and criteria for the development of material and process specifications for LCM materials and process. The importance of LCM process is also raised by domestic composite material suppliers and OEM. This study suggested structures of material specifications and process specification of LCM materials. Material qualification method for LCM process and material was also developed in this study.

• Composites Research
• /
• v.27 no.6
• /
• pp.254-259
• /
• 2014

In this study, a device and pressure press process that is able to substitute autoclave process is developed. This process complements disadvantages of autoclave process which are long process-time and high production cost. The developed device provides air pressure as well as the vacuum which are greatest feature of autoclave process. The device is sealed using hydraulic pressure to keep the air pressure inside the mold. The transfer of the heat is designed to be direct. The heating and pressure charging time are decreased by reducing the interior space. Tooling cost is reduced dramatically compared to autoclave process. Spring-back phenomenon is measured and compared. The temperatures of several parts of the mold during molding are measured. The fiber volume fraction of the parts molded by autoclave process and by the developed process are compared.

• Composites Research
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.76-80
• /
• 2020

In this study, vacuum bag hot-press (V-HP) process can be used as an out-of-autoclave (OOA) process by improving the inefficient process of the autoclave forming method with excellent physical properties and surface quality. A carbon fiber composite was molded via V-HP process and analyzed the physical properties and microstructures between composites manufactured by autoclave (AC) process and hot-press process (HP). The tensile strength of the composite materials using the V-HP process was 320.6 MPa and the AC process samples found to be substantially close to the tensile strength of 335.3 MPa. As a result of confirming the surface quality of the composite material using SEM, it was confirmed that in the V-HP process, the removal state of pores due to volatile solvent in the resin was slightly lower than that of the AC process, but it had a considerably superior surface compared to the HP process.

• Composites Research
• /
• v.14 no.6
• /
• pp.47-58
• /
• 2001

This paper describes applications of cure monitoring techniques by using embedded fiber optic strain sensors, which are extrinsic Fabry-Perot interoferometric (EFPI) and/or fiber Bra99 grating (FBG) sensors, to three kinds of molding methods of autoclave, FW and RTM molding methods. In these applications, internal strain of high-temperature curing resin was monitored by EFPI sensors. From theme experimental results, it was shown that strain caused by thermal shrink at cooling stage could be measured well. In addition, several specific matters to these molding methods were considered. As thor an autoclave molding of unidirectional FRP laminates, it was confirmed that off-axis strain of unidirectional FRP could be monitored by EFPI sensors. As for FW molding using room-temperature (RT) cured resin, it was found that the strain outputs from EFPI sensors represented curing shrinkage as well as thermal strain and the convergence meant finish of cure reaction. It was also shown that this curing shrinkage should be evaluated with consideration on logarithmic change in stiffness of matrix resin. As for a RTM melding, both EFPI and FBC sensors were employed to measure strain. The results showed that FBG sensors hale also good potential for strain monitoring at cooling stage, while the non-uniform thermal residual strain of textile affected the FBG spectrum after molding. This study has proven that embedded fiber optic strain sensors hale practical ability of cure monitoring of FRP. However, development of automatic installation methods of sensors remains as a problem to be solved for applications to practical products.

• Composites Research
• /
• v.34 no.5
• /
• pp.269-276
• /
• 2021

PCM (Prepreg Compression Molding) process is a high-speed molding technology that can manufacture high-quality CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic) parts. Compared to the autoclave process, it generates less waste and can significantly reduce cycle time, so various studies are being conducted in the aerospace and automobile industries. In this study, in order to improve the quality of the PCM process, a molding method was developed to increase the compression pressure of the press step by step according to the curing behavior of the prepreg. It was confirmed that this multi-stage compression molding technology is a good means to produce high-quality CFRP products and shorten cycle times. And, the laminated prepreg at room temperature was immediately put into the mold and preheated and molded at the same time, so that it could be molded without a separate preheating process. In addition, as a result of applying the same process conditions optimized for flat plate molding to three-dimensional shapes, a product similar to a flat plate in appearance could be made without the process of establishing process conditions.

• Composites Research
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.88-95
• /
• 2021

VARTM (Vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding) process is a low-cost process technology and affiliated with OoA (Out of Autoclave). Besides, it has been widely used in various fields. However, because of its lower quality than the autoclave process, it isn't easy to apply the VARTM process to the aerospace industry, which requires high reliability. The main problem of the VARTM process is the loss of mechanical properties due to the low fiber volume fraction and high void content in comparison to the autoclave. Therefore, many researchers have studied to reduce void and increase fiber volume fraction. This study examines whether the method of controlling atmospheric pressure could increase the fiber volume fraction and reduce void during the resin impregnation process. Reliability evaluation was confirmed by compressive strength test, fiber volume fraction analysis, and optical microscopy. As a result, it was confirmed that increasing the atmospheric pressure step by step in the VARTM process of impregnating the preform with resin effectively increases the fiber volume fraction and reduces void.

• Composites Research
• /
• v.36 no.5
• /
• pp.310-314
• /
• 2023

VaRTM(Vacuum assisted resin transfer molding) and VAP(Vacuum assisted process) processes are a type of RTM(Resin transfer molding) process, and are typical out-of-autoclave (OOA) processes that can manufacture large structures at low cost. In this paper, a resin filling test was conducted to compare the VaRTM and VAP processes, and the filling process and dimensional stability were compared. In addition, an analysis method to simulate the filling process was developed, and a dielectric sensor was used to detect the flow front of the resin, which was compared with the analysis results. From the resin filling test, the total filling time of the composite plate was measured to be 48 minutes for the VAP process and 145 minutes for the VaRTM process, and the filling time by the VAP process was reduced by about 67%. In addition, it was confirmed that the VAP process was superior to the VaRTM process in the thickness control ability and uniformity of the composite plate.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
• /
• 2005.04a
• /
• pp.207-211
• /
• 2005

The Korean Tilting Train eXpress (TTX) with service speed of 180km/h have been developing using hybrid design concept combined with a sandwich composite structure for the carbody and stainless steel structure for the underframe to match the challenging demands with respect to cost efficient lightweight design for railway carriage structures. The sandwich composite structure was used to minimize the weight of the carbody, while the metal underframe was used to modify the design easily and to keep the strength of underframe for the installation of the electrical equipments. The sandwich composite structure was 23 meters long, 3 meters wide and 2.7 meters high, and cured as one body in a large autoclave equipment with the length of 30 meters and the diameter of 5 meters. The joint part between the carbody structure made of sandwich composites and the metal underframe was joined by the proposed design.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
• /
• 2002.10a
• /
• pp.189-192
• /
• 2002

The autoclave process is frequently utilized in the manufacturing of aircraft parts because of the low void content and high fiber volume fraction. However, due to the slow curing process (5∼8 hours per part) and it's limited producibility for complicated shape, this process is very expensive and applied to the relatively simple geometry structures. RTM is considered as an alternative process to overcome the limitation of autoclave process. In this study, the idea of RTM application on the secondary Fairing structure of aircraft has been proved to be technically feasible and very cost effective by changing the multiple part of subassembly into one integral composite structure.