Laminate Temperature Distributions and Filling Tine Prediction during Non-Isothermal Impregnation of Fibre Preforms

The resin temperature distributions in a heated mould during the impregnation stage of resin transfer moulding have been investigated in this work. Effects such as the fibre content, the filling time and the mould and preform temperatures have been evaluated. It was shown that the fibre content and the filling time effects on the resin temperature distributions are less significant than the mould and preform temperatures. It was also shown that approximately 70% of the resin temperature increase is obtained within a flow path length of 12.5 cm. These trends led to the development of an empirical relation used to evaluate the influence on fill times of non-isothermal effects during filling.