• Composites Research
• /
• v.29 no.5
• /
• pp.315-320
• /
• 2016

Conventionally, composite aircraft structures are fabricated within autoclave at high pressure. However, autoclave process has several disadvantages including high curing costs and limitation of part size. Recently, out-of-autoclave (OoA) processes have been investigated in many studies to replace conventional autoclave process. A newly developed OoA prepreg, using conventional ovens, can significantly reduce the curing costs and produce autoclave-quality parts. Nevertheless, manufacture of void-free complex shape structure using OoA process presents significant challenges because of the low consolidation pressure. In this study, integrated skin-spar-rib composite part was fabricated using OoA prepreg. And cross-sectional macro- and micro-graphs of the part were examined in order to assess the possibility of replacing conventional autoclave process.

• 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.34 no.4
• /
• pp.233-240
• /
• 2021

VaRI(Vacuum assisted Resin Infusion) process, which is cost effective and suitable for manufacturing large-sized composites, is an OoA(Out-of Autoclave) process. For rapid resin infusion in the VaRI process, a DM(distribution media) is placed on top of the fabric. The resin is rapidly supplied in plane direction of the fiber along the DM, and then the supplied resin is impregnated in the out-of-plane direction of fiber. It is difficult to predict the flow of resin because the flow of in-plane direction and the out-of-plane direction occur together, and a 3D numerical analysis program is used to simulate the resin infusion process. However, in order to analyze in 3D, many elements are required in the out-of-plane direction of fabric. And the product size is larger, the longer the analysis time needs. Therefore, in this study, a method was suggested to reduce the time required for flow analysis by simplifying the 3D flow analysis to 2D flow analysis. The usefulness was verified by comparing the 3D flow analysis with the simplified 2D flow analysis at the same conditions. The filling time error was about 7% and the reduction of flow analysis time was about 95%. In addition, by utilizing the constant difference in the flow front between the top, middle, and bottom of the fabric of the 3D analysis, the flow front of the top, middle, and bottom of the fabric can be also predicted in the 2D flow analysis.

• 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.32 no.6
• /
• pp.395-402
• /
• 2019

The RFI process is an OoA process that fiber mats and resin films are laminated and cured in a vacuum bag. In case that resin film is insufficient to fill empty space in fibers, it makes void defect in composites and this void decrease mechanical properties of the composites. For this reason, non-destructive testing is usually used to evaluate void of manufactured composites. So, in this study, a manufacturing method of standard void specimens, which are able to be used as references in non-destructive testing, was proposed by controlling resin film thickness in the RFI process. Also, a fiber compaction test was proposed as a method to set the resin film thicknesses depending on target voids of manufacturing panels. The target void panels of 0%, 2%, and 4% were made by the proposed methods, and signal attenuation depending on void was measured by non-destructive testing and image analysis. In addition, voids of specimens for tensile, in-plane, short beam and compressive tests were estimated by signal attenuation, and mechanical properties were evaluated depending on the voids.

• Composites Research
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.23-29
• /
• 2018

The RFI process can be applied to very thick structures without limiting the resin viscosity. When the proper thickness of the resin film cannot be set, the resin film creates either the non-impregnated section or the excessive resin contents and this leads to the deterioration of mechanical properties. Therefore, this study proposed a method for setting the resin film thickness in the RFI process. The fiber compaction behavior test was proposed by setting the proper resin film thickness and the properties of composites were evaluated through short beam shear strength test, compression test and porosity measurement to verify the proposed method. The evaluation of physical properties of composites was conducted and an appropriate level of resin film thickness was found based on the results of fiber compaction behavior test.