Model Development and Simulation of a Slurry-based Fiberglass Preform Manufacturing Process

摘要

The U.S.Department of Energy is currently supportint the development of a computer-based model to simulate a slurry process under development to manufacture fiberglass mattes in complex shapes for automobile components. The Automotive Composites Consortium of USCAR has provided oversight and dirction for the modeling effort currently underway at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL). The overall objective of the sponsored work is to minimize nonuniformity of fiberglass mass per unit area in the complex mattes in order to ensure desired properties for the final component. Amodel has been developed to simulate the buildup of fiberglass on a screen mounted in the center of a piston which is driven through the slurry. The screen is constructed to have the shape of the desired component. The present paper discusses the physics of the slurry process, the approach used to build a computer model of the process, model simulations and comparison of the model simulations with experimental data from actual fiberglass preforms.