• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 1999.11a
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• pp.139-142
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• 1999

Screw rotors are core parts of screw type air compressors, compressors in refrigerating machines and super chargers of automobiles etc. They are composed of a female and a male rotors which have complex section profiles and helically swept geometry. Screw type compressors have advantages of low noise, high efficiency, less needs in maintenance etc. Usually, machining process of screw rotors requires long machining time using CNC machine designed only for screw rotors, which increase the cost of production. In this work, the screw rotors for air-compressors were manufactured with fiber reinforced epoxy composite materials by resin transfer molding process. The mold for the RTM process was made of aluminum and silicon rubber and was designed for release of helical shape products. Composite screw rotors, manufactured by RTM process, have advantages of lightweight, less cost of production, good characteristics of vibration etc.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.44-49
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• 2022

In this study, the simulation of the resin transfer molding process method using MoldFlow has been investigated. This work explains the thermoset material model, fabric permeability model, the flow model and the cure model. It has been shown that the simulation result can predict filling and cure performances.

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

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.81-86
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• 2017

The high-pressure resin transfer molding (HP-RTM) process has a very effective for the mass production of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) for light weight in the automotive industry. In developing robust equipment, new process and fast cure matrix systems reduces significantly the cycle time less than 5 minutes in recent years. This paper describes the cavity pressure, temperature and molding characteristics of the HP-RTM process. The HP-RTM mold was equipped with two cavity pressure sensors and three temperature sensors. The cavity pressure characteristics of the HP-RTM injection, pressurization, and curing processes were studied. This experiment was conducted with selected process parameters such as mold cap size, maximum press force, and injection volume. Consequently, this monitoring method provides correlations between the selected process parameters and final forming characteristics in this work.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.157-165
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• 2017

The high-pressure resin transfer molding (HP-RTM) technology has been commercialized for fast production of fiber reinforced composite materials. The high-pressure mixing head was one of the most core component of the HP-RTM process. In this study, a mixing head was systematically designed, manufactured and evaluated. This mixing head was composed of a nozzle, a mixing chamber, a cleaning piston part, and an internal mold release part. In actual, a straight-type structure was newly designed instead of the conventional L-type structure for improving the maximum mixing pressure and mixing ratio precision. The performance of mixing head was showed maximum mixing pressure of 15.22MPa and mixing ratio precision of 0.12%. CFRP molding experiments were successfully obtained a 6~11 laminating carbon sheet using HP-RTM presses and specimen molds.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.137-140
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• 2005

Resin transfer molding (RTM) is one of the most popular processes for producing fiber reinforced polymer composites. In the manufacture of complex thick composite structures, analysis on flow front advancement on the resin impregnating the multi-layered fiber preform is helpful for the optimization of the process. In this study, three-dimensional mold filling simulation of RTM is carried out by using CVFEM (Control Volume Finite Element Method). On the assumption of isothermal flow of Newtonian fluid, Darcy’s law and continuity equation are used as governing equations. Different permeability tensors employed in each layer are obtained by experiments. Numerically predicted flow front is compared with experimental one in order to validate the numerical results. Flow simulations are conducted in the two mold geometries, rectangular plate and hollow cylinder. Permeability tensor of each layer preform in Cartesian coordinate system is transformed to cylinder coordinates system so that the flow within the multi-layered preforms of the hollow cylinder can be calculated exactly. Our emphasis is on the three dimensional flow analysis for circular three-dimensional braided preform, which shows outstanding mechanical properties such as high impact strength and toughness compared with other conventional two-dimensional laminar-structured preforms.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.253-256
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• 2000

In order to commercialize the low cost composite fabrication technology in the area of domestic aerospace structure field, Resin Transfer Molding process has been considered as an alternative process to replace the high cost autoclave technology. The end part for the development of RTM process is the control rod of flight control system of aircraft. A braided preform was triaxially designed to improve the dimensional stability and mechanical property in the direction of external loads. Through the flow analysis using CVFEM, the resin filling time was calculated and the resin injection method was determined. The results of the flow analysis were directly applied to RTM mold design. The control rod was successfully manufactured by RTM process using internal pressure. The length and outer diameter of the manufactured part are 1148mm and 32mm, respectively.

• Carbon letters
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.32-37
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• 2014

Multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)/epoxy composites are prepared by a vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) method. The mechanical properties, fracture surface morphologies, and thermal stabilities of these nanocomposites are evaluated for epoxy resins with various amounts of MWCNTs. Composites consisting of different amounts of MWCNTs displayed an increase of the work of adhesion between the MWCNTs and the matrix, which improved both the tensile and impact strengths of the composites. The tensile and impact strengths of the MWCNT/epoxy composite improved by 59 and 562% with 0.3 phr of MWCNTs, respectively, compared to the epoxy composite without MWCNTs. Thermal stability of the 0.3 phr MWCNT/epoxy composite increased compared to other epoxy composites with MWCNTs. The enhancement of the mechanical and thermal properties of the MWCNT/epoxy nanocomposites is attributed to improved dispersibility and strong interfacial interaction between the MWCNTs and the epoxy in the composites prepared by VARTM.

• Composites Research
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.10-15
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• 2003

In RTM process, the content of microvoids can be critical due to the fact that the presence of microvoids degrades mechanical properties on the fabricated composite parts. The present paper proposes an experimental method of observation in void formation and transport. VARTM processes are performed under observation with a digital video camera and then the microvoid formation in the flow front and transport are videotaped and observed both in channels and tows. The obtained data are used in the mathematical model in order to determine the model constants. Experimental results and expected results from the mathematical model show a good agreement with each other.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.59-62
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• 2016

In this study, an investigation was performed on the mechanical properties of the natural-fiber-composite structure. The specimen was manufactured using the Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM) method. The flax-fiber materials were adopted for the natural fiber composite, and vinyl-ester resin was also adopted. After a manufactured specimen was obtained, a mechanical test was carried out. The mechanical properties of the experiment results were compared with those of the natural-composite data cited from a number of other references.