Thermal variations during the manufacturing of fibre-reinforced polymer composites can causedimensional distortions in the final parts. Such deformations are mainly due to different thermalproperties of composite constituents, as well as the interaction between mould and part duringforming. During the process development of a new part, the amount of thermal deformation canbe difficult to predict as it depends on several factors including the composite constituent'smaterial properties, the process thermal cycle and rate, the composite layup and part geometry,as well as the tooling material's thermal properties. Currently in industry, trial and erroriterations of tooling geometries and process cycles are commonly used until a correct part shapeis produced. In order to reduce the time and cost associated with these iterations, this articleinvestigates the possibility of computer modeling for predicting dimensional distortions ofthermoplastic matrix composite laminates during a custom-designed, multi-stage roll formingprocess.
展开▼
