Measurement and modeling of the unsaturated out-of-plane permeability and high-pressure impregnation of reinforcing structures

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In Liquid Composite Molding (LCM) processes, fast textile impregnation techniques often rely on out-of-plane injection strategies, in order to increase production rates and further enhance the competitiveness of composites solutions. For further optimization regarding economic efficiency, the impregnation process can be under high pressure conditions up to 200 bar. The out-of-plane impregnation process is difficult to model because of the strong coupling between resin flow and fiber bed deformation. The objective of this project is to investigate the underlying impregnation mechanisms and the application of knowledge for development of reliable methods and tools for the characterization of the unsaturated out-of-plane permeability of reinforcing structures under high pressure conditions. To achieve this target analytical and numerical investigations are combined with new experimental methods, including flow and ply displacement monitoring techniques. The insights will be transferred into a robust and time-efficient out-of-plane permeability measurement method based on fast algorithms capable to extract reliable permeability values considering a minimal number of measurements. In order to address this challenging task, Prof. Dr. Paolo Ermanni, ETH Zürich CMASLab and the applicant have decided to join forces, sharing their complementary knowledge and expertise. The excellent cooperation between IVW and CMASLAb has already been shown on the preceded DACH project. IVW will continue in concentrating on the development of methods and experimental investigations, including the development and the realization of the measurement cell and carry out flow experiments under different conditions (including high pressure conditions). CMASLab will develop the numerical methods and related tools to derive the unsaturated permeability from the experimental data. The contributions of the single research sites will be valuably extended through the collaboration.