Gas permeation and viscoelastic deformation of prepregs in composite manufacturing processes

Abstract Gas permeation and creep deformation of a commercial prepreg, which exhibits viscoelastic characteristics, were investigated as a function of time, temperature, and consolidation pressure. Experiments using a prepreg stack demonstrated that the material exhibited a linear viscoelastic bulk deformation under vacuum/autoclave pressure and furthermore, the in‐plane gas flow exhibited non‐Darcian flow behavior with a permeation hysteresis. This behavior was viewed and analyzed by two viscoelastic relaxation processes: (1) bulk dimensional relaxation, and (2) microscopic pore structure rearrangement. A modified standard linear solid (SLS) viscoelastic model was used to interpret the creep compliance and dynamic gas permeability utilizing two independent relaxation parameters. By visual investigation of pore sizes and their distribution, air permeation was found to take place mostly through the interlaminar porosity network for the prepreg system examined.