Modeling resin transfer molding of polyimide (PMR‐15)/fiber composites

Abstract Polyimide (PMR‐15)/fiber composites are important structural components in many high temperature applications requiring high performance lightweight materials. Most composites are fabricated from “prepregs,” but resin transfer molding (RTM) is an alternative route to the formation of a resin‐saturated perform, further processing of which yields the final part. A simple model is proposed for the RTM of “thin” composite parts. Numerical solution of the model is accomplished through integration of the equation s formulated using he finite element method. This approach accounts for the changing shape of the flow front during RTM. The resulting computational schemes are numerically stable and efficient.