TOUGHENED LOW-TEMPERATURE CURE VARTM COMPOSITES

摘要

Vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) offers composites fabricators lower start-up and operating costs than closed molding or prepreg operations. Capital equipment investment for VARTM is reduced compared to other processes and tooling costs are low relative to closed mold systems, such as resin transfer molding (RTM). As higher performance low-temperature curing VARTM resins are developed, fracture toughness remains an area for improvement. Adding traditional tougheners to VARTM matrix resins increases viscosity and hinders infusion, especially when resins are not infused at elevated temperatures. This study evaluates a toughened tackifier resin as a means of improving interlaminar fracture toughness in three different low-temperature cure VARTM systems. Increased fracture toughness was achieved in all systems, while resin infusion and composite flexural properties were not significantly affected.