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Three-dimensional numerical simulation for resin transfer molding of automotive wheel

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Abstract

Resin transfer molding (RTM) is a manufacturing process that uses liquid resin to saturate a fiber preform placed in a closed mold cavity. For robust fabrication of the composite, fiber preform needs to be completely impregnated with polymer resin during mold filling. Hence, the understanding of resin flow and void formation in RTM is very important to design the mold and processing conditions for successful production of composite parts. In this study, three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulation was carried out to investigate the resin flow behavior in a complicated mold. An automotive wheel rim was designed and fabricated using carbon fiber preform and epoxy resin. Case studies were performed to minimize the void formation during processing.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by GRRC program of Gyeonggi Province (GRRC Dankook2016-B03). In addition, this research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (2018R1D1A1B07049173) and by the Korea government (MSIT) (No. NRF-2018R1A5A1024127). The authors are grateful for the supports.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute of Advanced Materials (RIAM), Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea

    Zheng Min Huang, So Yun Lee, Hyung Min Kim & Jae Ryoun Youn

  2. Department of Fiber System Engineering, Dankook University, Yongin, 16890, Republic of Korea

    Young Seok Song

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  1. Zheng Min Huang
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  2. So Yun Lee
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  4. Jae Ryoun Youn
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Correspondence to Jae Ryoun Youn or Young Seok Song.

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Huang, Z.M., Lee, S.Y., Kim, H.M. et al. Three-dimensional numerical simulation for resin transfer molding of automotive wheel. Korea-Aust. Rheol. J. 31, 141–147 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13367-019-0015-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13367-019-0015-4

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