Numerical implementation and experimental validation of a through-the-thickness temperature model for non-isothermal vacuum bagging infusion

Abstract

Non-isothermal infusion processes can suffer from inhomogeneous cure, causing undesirable residual stresses or deformations. Heat transfer phenomena have been thoroughly described for double sided, rigid mold infusion but are still less explored for single sided, rigid mold infusion such as vacuum bagging techniques. In this study, an analytical through-the-thickness temperature gradient model derived for resin transfer molding is proposed and implemented numerically. An experimental validation study has been performed using representative set-ups of typical vacuum bagging processes. The results demonstrate that the analytical model can reproduce the through-the-thickness temperature gradient of the tests with good accuracy despite its simplified thermal problem description and numerical implementation.