Authors: Vincent Achim Edu Ruiz
Publish Date: 2009/08/15
Volume: 3, Issue: 2, Pages: 1277-1286
Abstract
Liquid Composite Molding LCM regroups a number of manufacturing techniques of polymer composites based on the impregnation of dry fibrous reinforcements by a liquid resin It involves several complex phenomena fibre impregnation resin gellification and cure thermal and rheological variations etc The combination of such phenomena and the wide range of processing parameters often lead to nonoptimum sometimes inappropriate processing setups In this work an approach is proposed to assist manufacturing specialists in reducing process development time and improving process robustness A software interface was developed to enable users to define and quickly compare different processing scenarios Using fuzzy logic inference and different levels of mathematical simplification the proposed software is able to sketch the moldability diagram of the part and perform basic process optimizations One original feature of the proposed approach consists of integrating into the optimization loop the feedback of process engineers which helps in correcting the numerical solution An application example is conducted in order to demonstrate the capabilities of the approach for understanding process behaviourThe authors are grateful to the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada NSERC and the Fonds Québécois de Recherche sur la Nature et la Technologie FQRNT for their financial support The authors would also like to thank CREPEC Center for applied research on polymer and composites for providing the research infrastructure and equipment
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