The multi-scale flow behaviors of sisal fiber reinforced composites during resin transfer molding process

The flow behaviors of the resin during the resin transfer molding (RTM) process of sisal fiber reinforced composites was studied at different scales with the consideration of the unique hierarchical and lumen structures of sisal fibers compared to those of man-made fibers. The work mainly focused on the development of the multi-scale flow models which include the resin flow inside lumens, intra-bundles and inter-bundles. The models not only quantified the lumen flow based on the Hagen-Poiseuille equation, but also ensured the continuity of the velocity and stress on the boundaries between intra-bundle and inter-bundle regions by applying Brinkman equation. Three dedicated experiments were designed and implemented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed models. The absorbed resin mass over the infiltration time obtained from the single sisal fiber and sisal fiber bundle infiltration experiments showed good agreement with the calculated curves. In terms of the RTM process, the dynamic flow front of the resin was perfectly predicted by the proposed model at macro-scale.