A heat-balance method for autoclave process of composite manufacturing. (March 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wang, Lingyun; Zhu, Weidong; Wang, Qing; Xu, Qiang; Ke, Yinglin
• Is Part Of: Journal of composite materials. Volume 53:Number 5(2019)
• Page Start: 641
• Page End: 652
• Publication Date: 2019-03
• Subjects: Process simulation -- thermal optimization -- autoclave -- mold; Composite materials -- Periodicals; Composites -- Périodiques; 620.118
• DOI: 10.1177/0021998318788918
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0021-9983

Abstract

In composite manufacturing, large composite parts usually exhibit high heating gradients during the autoclave process, which may intensify the process-induced residual stresses and deformations. As the thermal behavior of molds is of crucial importance to the curing performance of composites, a heat-balance method is presented to reduce the heating rate on overheated areas of molds, thus providing a more homogeneous curing process. The method is based on a local-isolation structure installed under the mold plate, which is used to change the local heat transfer coefficient of the mold. In the local-isolation structure application, an optimization process combining numerical simulations with a greedy genetic algorithm is developed to find the optimal layout and geometry of local-isolation structure in molds. The optimization results suggest that more uniform heating condition and more synchronous curing process can be achieved with the optimal design of local-isolation structure. In the case of a typical mold for C spar component, the maximum temperature difference in the composite part is reduce by 45.69%, while the maximum difference in degree of cure is decreased at a rate of 40.16%.