Water Dispersible Core Technology for the Manufactyring of Hollow-Structure Farts

摘要

For manufacturing parts of composite material, metal molds are normally used. However, metal molds are very heavy and expensive. In addition, for some complex geometry parts, such as hollow structures, metal cores are not suitable. In this situation, water dispersible cores can be well utilized instead of metal. In this paper the properties of water dispersible tooling material have been studied, including physical properties and mechanical properties. The washout capability and process challenges have been analyzed. Moreover, a hollow-structure prototype and a T-shape beam, made of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP), are manufactured by using Vacuum-Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM) process. Furthermore, mean roughness of the prototype was investigated.