A High-Consolidation Electron Beam-Curing Process for Manufacturing Three-Dimensional Advanced Thermoset Composites
Date
2022-07-27
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering
Abstract
This paper describes the application of a new manufacturing process for low-cost and rapid consolidation and curing of advanced thermoset composites that avoids the use of expensive prepreg, autoclaving, and thermally induced curing. The process, called VIPE, uses a novel tooling design that combines vacuum infusion (VI) of a dry preform with resin, a rigidly backed pressure focusing layer (P) made of an elastomer to consolidate the wet preform with uniform pressure, and high-energy electron beam curing (E). A VIPE tool is engineered and fabricated to manufacture 3D laminate bicycle seats composed of woven carbon fiber textile and an electron beam-curable epoxy acrylate. Details of the tooling design discussed include computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of the vacuum infusion, iterative structural finite element analysis (FEA) to synthesize the pressure focusing layer (PFL), structural FEA to design the top mold made of a composite sandwich structure for electron beam transparency, and Monte Carlo electron absorption simulations to specify the e-beam energy level. Ten parts are fabricated using the matched tool (bottom aluminum mold covered with silicone layer and top mold with carbon/epoxy skins separated by foam core) after the dry textile preform contained within is infused with resin, the tool halves are clamped under load, and a 3.0 MeV e-beam machine bombards the tool for less than 1 min. Part thickness, part stiffness, surface roughness, and fiber and void volume fractions measurements show that aerospace quality parts with low cycle times are achievable, although there is high variability due to the small number of replicates and need for process optimization.
Description
©ASME; CC-BY distribution license. This article was originally published in Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4054871. This article will be embargoed until 07/27/2023.
Keywords
advanced materials and processing, injection molding and other polymer fabrication processes, nontraditional manufacturing processes
Citation
Rizzolo, R. H., Walczyk, D. F., Montoney, D., Simacek, P., and Mahbub, M. R. (July 27, 2022). "A High-Consolidation Electron Beam-Curing Process for Manufacturing Three-Dimensional Advanced Thermoset Composites." ASME. J. Manuf. Sci. Eng. December 2022; 144(12): 121001. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4054871