LAMINATE THICKNESS EVOLUTION DURING THE RESIN INFUSION STEP OF VARTM

摘要

The entire infusion step in a vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) process was measured by a three-dimensional digital image correlation (DIC) testing system. The results showed that a stack of fibre reinforcements initially shrank and then expanded as the resin tilled the cavities before closing the inlet. The full-field thickness change distribution calculated from 3D DIC revealed zones that were unsaturated, partly saturated, and fully saturated with resin.