Composites Part A 29A (1998) 795801 1359-835X/98/$-see front matter 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

PII: S1359-835X(98)00055-4

A comparison of physical properties of glass bre epoxy composites produced by wet lay-up with autoclave consolidation and resin transfer moulding

D. Abraham, S. Matthews and R. McIlhagger

Engineering Composites Research Centre (ECRE), Department of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, University of Ulster at Jordanstown, Shore Road, Newtownabbey BT37 0QB, Northern Ireland, UK

Comparisons are reported for composite samples of similar resin and bre systems which were processed using the wet lay-up with autoclave consolidation and resin transfer moulding (RTM) by vacuum impregnation. Similar degrees of cure were obtained for laminates using the two methods of processing and the arising thermal and physical properties (tensile, exural, interlaminar shear strength (ILSS), void content and thickness variation) were measured. The bre dominated properties (i.e. exural and tensile strength) were found to be higher for the autoclaved samples due to the higher volume fraction arising from the superior compaction pressure, although when normalised on the basis of bre volume fraction the results were similar. The matrix dominated ILSS values were higher for the RTM samples and this was attributed to improved wetting, reduced void content and a slightly lower degree of cure. Thermal analysis also indicated that the autoclaved (60% glass bre by volume) composite attained a slightly higher glass transition temperature than that achieved by RTM (50% bre by volume) for similar cure times and cure temperatures. The signicance of the results in an industrial context is discussed. 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved
(Keywords: composites manufacture; E. resin transfer moulding (RTM); E. autoclave)

INTRODUCTION Aerospace composites manufacturing The aerospace sector remains rmly rooted in traditional autoclaving routes for processing the majority of their composite parts. Autoclaving is a well understood and mature technology which is capable of producing material of consistently high quality, with high (greater than 55%) bre volume fraction and low (less than 2%) void content. Numerous studies of autoclaving have been published, although most of these relate to pre-preg. Stringer1 investigated autoclave consolidation for wet layup carbon/epoxy laminates and reported a bre volume of 58% and less than 2% voidage by incorporating a dwell period at the start of the cure cycle before applying the consolidation pressure. Wenger2 has investigated autoclave cure cycle optimisation for the facility used in this investigation, varying the point of pressure application, dwell temperature, dwell period and heat-up ramp, and studying the quality of the nal composite component.

Aerospace resin transfer moulding Despite the traditional use of the autoclave (almost universally with pre-preg.), interest and condence is increasing for resin transfer moulding (RTM), usually driven by materials costs. This has led to the production of aircraft components such as radomes3, bullet fairings4, and propeller blades5. Previous development studies for structural components by aerospace operators includes missile airframes6 and a highly loaded crank7. With the development of automated methods of preform production8,9, parallel research on processing methods is aimed at fast and reliable methods of impregnation with reduced capital and running costs compared to either traditional wet lay-up or vacuum bag and autoclave (pre-preg.) moulding. RTM offers a useful alternative in several industrial sectors, since it reduces the labour costs and environmental concerns associated with wet lay-up and provides substantial savings in materials costs when compared with the use of pre-pregs. A further advantage of RTM is the wide range of process variants, which range from relatively simple vacuum impregnation processes requiring little by way of capital

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equipment to hybrid RTM/SRIM operations and their associated high investment. Vacuum driven processes Recent years have seen signicant activity in vacuum infusion processes for composites manufacture. Although applications of this process have existed since the 1940s, increasingly stringent legislation in several countries concerning the emission of volatiles in the workplace has led to investigations and numerous production examples of vacuum infusion as a replacement for open mould processes. This technique uses vacuum to transfer the liquid resin into the mould cavity containing the bre reinforcement. The cavity itself may be formed by two matched tools or a single hard tool and a vacuum lm. In common with all fabrication processes, it is important to maintain voidage in the nal laminate as low as possible, and since RTM (generally) involves no further consolidation, the impregnation process needs to be controlled with some care. Increasing void content is well known to be detrimental to mechanical performance, as illustrated for example by Judd and Wright10, who reported that an increase in the void content of 1% resulted in a 7% decrease of the short beam shear properties (up to 4% void content). Several detailed reviews of void formation in RTM have been presented11,12. Hayward and Harris13 investigated the effects of vacuum assistance and reported a reduction in voidage during positive pressure RTM. Abraham and McIlhagger14 considered several injection strategies and gating arrangements, and found these to affect
Table 1 Main characteristics of RTM and autoclaving Property Production output Void content Labour intensity Achievable V f Typical applications RTM Moderate (10 10 /annum) Low ( 2%) Lowmoderate Moderate (3065%) Low to medium volume, automotive parts, non-structural components (e.g. automotive spoilers), structural items (e.g. propeller blades, missile boxes)
2 5

the degree of visual porosity and moulding translucency. Qualitative comparison showed that vacuum impregnation and peripheral gating produced the best quality mouldings. Clearly, the properties of vacuum impregnated mouldings are also strongly dependent upon the bre volume fraction which is achieved. Unlike conventional RTM, which is carried out in a xed height cavity, the use of a exible membrane to close the cavity means that the degree of fabric compaction (thus the bre volume fraction) depends upon the pressure difference across the membrane15. Autoclaving versus RTM from a manufacturing perspective Table 1 summarises the main features that characterise autoclaving and RTM. It is evident that autoclaving is the favoured method when the need for high product quality dominates over production rate (as evidenced by its continued dominance of aerospace manufacture), while RTM appears to offer lower cost manufacture and entry to higher volume markets, typied by the growing interest from within the automotive sector. In addition to the savings on materials costs compared with pre-pregs and the improvements in the working environment compared with wet lay-up, RTM offers considerable advantages over either alternative, due to a reduction in the labour content and higher production rates. Operator exposure to liquid resins is also much reduced. An approximate time analysis for the two (laboratory) processes is shown in Table 2, which suggests that RTM offers a signicant time saving of 1.5 h (25%) over the equivalent

Autoclave Low (10 1 10 2/annum) Low ( 2%) High High (5070%) Aerospace industry, Formula 1 automotive, sporting goods

Table 2 Comparison of Wet lay-up with autoclave consolidation and RTM: breakdown by operations for laboratory scale processes Wet lay-up and autoclave Production step Mould preparation H Fabric cutting H (including preparation) Resin mixing H I (including preparation) Hand lay-up H I Vacuum bagging H Autoclave cycle Autoclave debagging H Total processing time Resin post-curing at 145 C Total production time Manual processing time (% of total production time) Direct Contact with resin (% of total production time)
a b

RTM Time (min) 22.5 a 25 25 120 b 30 192 10 424.5 452 876.5 232.5 (26.5%) 145 (16.5%) Production step Mould preparation H Fabric cutting H (including preparation) Resin mixing H I (including preparation) Resin degassing Tool assembly testing H Resin injection H Resin curing Tool cooling Tool ejection and preparation for next run H Total processing time Resin post-curing at 145 C Total production time Manual processing time (% of total production time) Direct contact with resin (% of total production time) Time (min) 22.5 a 25 25 60 30 12 99 30 30 333.5 368.4 701.9 144.5 (20.6%) 25 (3.6%)

Autoclave and RTM mould preparation takes 90 min, but the preparation will endure a minimum of four production runs. Autoclave hand lay-up takes two operators working for 60 min. H, these steps involve manual processing. I, these steps involve direct operator contact with the resin.

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autoclave processing time. Further gains are evident when post-curing is taken into account. The major portion of the time savings using RTM arises because the majority of the initial processing takes place at a higher temperature than for wet lay-up with autoclave consolidation; thus the lengthy heat-up times are eliminated. RTM is also signicantly less labour intensive and eliminates almost 1.5 h of manual processing time. The operator exposure to wet resin is limited to the relatively short time required for mixing. In contrast, the wet lay-up alternative involves exposure for the entire laminating process (2 h). It must be recognised that the data presented here are for research laboratory processes, which are not necessarily representative of conventional industrial practice. Nonetheless it is likely that the general, rather than the specic, ndings read over to industrial operations. Clearly, on an industrial scale, where batch mixing would serve several mouldings, the level of automation would be higher, and certain procedures (e.g. preforming, resin degassing) could be conducted off-line, the advantages of the closed mould process would be magnied. A quantitative comparison of RTM and autoclaving In addition to the manufacturing requirements, it is useful to compare the quality and physical properties arising from RTM laminates with those of competing processes. Few direct comparisons of autoclaving and RTM have been reported. Hayward and Harris16 compared properties arising from vacuum assisted RTM with several alternative processes, although different resin systems were used in each case. The main comparison here has been with an autoclave route which, although used conventionally with pre-pregs, was used in the present study with a dry fabric/ wet lay-up approach, in order that the same materials could be used in both processes. Tensile, exural and interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) material tests were used to compare the physical properties arising from the two processing routes. In addition void contents, volume fraction of bre and the thickness variation within the laminate were examined. The degree of cure, as determined using dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)17,18, was also assessed although, in order to minimise the inuence on properties, cure times were adjusted in an attempt to achieve similar glass transition temperatures T g. In order to examine the potential of RTM composites as replacements for laminates which are traditionally autoclaved, the performance of two representative materials has been compared. These were produced using identical materials using laboratory equipment and processes as dened below. Vacuum impregnation was used for the RTM plaques in this work to achieve a glass bre volume fraction in the region of 50%. Parallel studies using wet lay-up with subsequent autoclave consolidation at 12 bar pressure used a similar arrangement with a exible membrane with the mould cavity evacuated to approximately 1 bar vacuum. EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS Materials The reinforcement material used was E-glass, 136 tex yarn. This was woven by CS-Interglas Ltd. into a plain weave structure of 7.1 ends/cm in the warp direction and 7 picks/cm in the weft direction to give an areal density of 196 g/m 2. Twelve fabric layers were cut from the roll stock and stacked so that weft and warp were aligned in the same direction for every layer. The fabric preform dimensions were 355 355 mm and 440 168 mm for the RTM and wet lay-up plaques respectively. The matrix was an epoxy resin supplied by Ciba Polymers. This was a two-part system of LY-564 resin and HY-2954 hardener which is intended for both RTM and hand lay-up applications. The mix ratio used (as recommended by the manufacturers) was 100:35 parts by weight resin to hardener. Processing The RTM technique consisted of rst mixing the resin and then degassing it for 1 h at 30 C to remove air suspended in the liquid. It was then injected into the tool at 75 C at a supply pressure of 750 mbar (absolute). After injection, the temperature was increased to 100 C at 0.64 C/ min (this relatively slow heating rate was a consequence of the small oven and high thermal mass of the mould). The resin supply pressure was increased to atmospheric and the composite cured at this temperature for 1 h. The plaque was then demoulded and subsequently post-cured at 145 C for 368 min. These temperature and pressure conditions are shown in Figure 1a. The tool, as seen in Figure 2, consisted of an aluminium base containing thermocouples for process monitoring and oven temperature control. Resin inlet and outlet ports were also positioned on the base plate. In order to achieve a good surface nish on both sides of the moulding a at metallic caul plate was used. The area of the caul plate was slightly larger than the fabric to form a peripheral gap which would permit the resin ow front to surround the preform and form a peripheral gate. The tool was sealed using a rubber gasket and nylon bag arrangement to which a vacuum was applied. The purpose of the vacuum was twofold; rstly vacuum only was used to impregnate the dry fabric, and secondly to compact the bre to obtain a higher volume fraction. The hand lay-up/autoclave technique consisted of mixing the resin and then using it in 12 approximately equal portions to impregnate each layer of the cut fabric. The resin was poured onto a sheet of nylon lm and rolled out to the size of the fabric, which was then placed carefully onto the thin lm of resin. The fabric was then lightly rolled in order to assist wet-out and then transferred to the tool base plate. All 12 layers were treated in the same way and laid up on top of each other. Release lm was placed over the top fabric layer followed by a metal caul plate and nally two layers of breather cloth. The assembly was then vacuum bagged and transferred to the autoclave, where it was subjected to the temperature and pressure conditions shown in Figure 1b.

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Figure 1

(a) i, RTM temperature cycle; ii, RTM pressure cycle. (b) i, Autoclave temperature cycle; ii, Autoclave pressure cycle

The temperature was ramped at 4 C/min to 50 C, and then held at this temperature for 1 h before being further ramped at 3 C/min to 100 C, where it was held for 1.5 h before being nally ramped down at 4 C/min to 40 C. As well as there being a vacuum applied to the mould cavity, the autoclave pressure was raised to 12 bar (gauge). After the thermal cycle, the tool was removed from the autoclave and the at plaque demoulded before subsequent post-cure at 145 C for 452 min. Preparation and analysis The plaques were sectioned using a diamond wheel. Specimens were then polished to the required dimensions using 320 grit wet and dry paper. A grid size of 10 mm was drawn on the plaques to map thickness variation and the thickness was measured at the line intersections using a

micrometer tted with barrels of 6.8 mm in diameter. The Composite Research Advisory Group (CRAG) standards for tensile, exural and ILSS methods 302, 200 and 100 respectively were used19. The DMA method required a 60 mm 10 mm sample which was a exure bar cut from the composite plaques, whereas the DSC technique only required a 10 mg sample weight. Void content was calculated by comparing the composite density calculated by resin burn off (to ASTM D2584-94) and the value calculated by the liquid displacement method. The latter used a Sartorius Density Determination Kit (Model Number YDK 01-OD) coupled to a Sartorius MC1 series balance (Model Number RC 210 D). Prior to the tests, the samples were conditioned in a humidity chamber at 23 C and 50% relative humidity for 40 h. Five samples were taken from along a length of the mouldings, in order to give a representative void content.

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bre volume fraction was calculated from the tex, bre density and yarn spacing in the fabric (which provided the reinforcement supercial density) and the volume of the laminate, using the mean thickness values from Table 3b. The normalised exural strength and modulus for the autoclaved laminates are 9% and 6% higher than those achieved using RTM while in tension, the situation is reversed with the RTM laminates exhibiting increases of 4 and 8% in normalised strength and modulus respectively over the autoclaved laminates. The second method involved the estimation of tensile properties using a rule of mixtures. This was done by considering the effective volume fraction of bre in either the warp or the weft direction (approximately 50% in each case) and neglecting the reinforcing effect of the transverse bres. The effective bre volume fraction in each of the two yarn directions was determined by the following expression: n e tex Vf s s s 10tc rs where V f is the bre volume fraction expressed as a percentage, n s is the number of plies, e s is the number of yarns per metre, tex s is the linear density in g/km, t c is the nal composite thickness (mm) and r s is the bre density in kg/m 3 . The matrix properties (tensile strength and modulus) were taken from the supplier data sheet and the bre tensile modulus was also taken from supplier information. The bre tensile strength was calculated by measuring the tensile strength of one yarn. The constituent properties and the warp direction bre volume fractions used in the ROM calculations are shown in Table 4. For both processing techniques the laminate properties were over-estimated. The estimated tensile strengths were 20% and 28% higher than the measured values for the RTM and autoclaved plaques respectively while the equivalent tensile moduli approached 50% error in both cases. This is attributable largely to the simple nature of the ROM approach and highlights the difculty of predicting properties in woven structures. The simplifying assumptions used in the calculation include; a non-crimp bre architecture; zero void content; continuous and unidirectional bres (in each yarn direction); that the load was applied along the

Figure 2

RTM tool construction

RESULTS The properties of the RTM and wet-layup/autoclave plaques are compared in Table 3. The results (Table 3b) show that autoclave moulding achieved an extra 13.5% bre volume fraction due to the superior compaction pressure of 13 bar. This produced increases in exural and tensile strength and modulus. However, it is worth noting that the RTM plaque was compacted and impregnated at a bre volume fraction of 50% using only the pressure difference caused by evacuating the mould cavity. It is also interesting that the ILSS arising from the RTM technique was 70% higher than that from the autoclave method. Since ILSS is generally accepted to be a good indicator of matrix quality and void content, this suggests that RTM more than adequately matches the autoclave process in terms of matrix quality. However the slightly lower degree of cure of the RTM sample (Table 3c) is also likely to be a contributing factor here. In order to determine the inuence of the processing method on the other mechanical properties, two approaches were considered. The rst was to normalise the properties on the basis of the volume fraction of bre. The nominal

Table 3 Laminate properties arising from wet lay-up with autoclave consolidation and RTM Property (a) Mechanical Properties ILSS (MPa) Flexural strength (MPa) Flexural modulus (GPa) Tensile strength (MPa) Tensile modulus (GPa) Calculated theoretical tensile strength (MPa) Calculated theoretical tensile modulus (GPa) (b) Physical properties Calculated V f from mean thickness (%) Mean thickness (mm) Voidage (%) (c) Thermal properties T g (DMA) T g (DSC) RTM Autoclave RTM% difference 2.4), normalised 16.35 5.3), normalised 893.8 5.6), normalised 41.36 6.6), normalised 521.0 10.5), normalised 25.60 69.7% 27.2% 25.7% 17.7% 15.0% 17.4% 19.3% 21.1% 27.3% 3.8% 6.8% 4.7%

17.73 (%CV 4.9), normalised 415.7 (%CV 3.8), normalised 19.63 (%CV 3.2), normalised 274.0 (%CV 8.2), normalised 13.91 (%CV 7.9), normalised 348.3 19.87 50.4 1.775 (%CV 4.3) 1.507 (%CV 13.4) 145.0 (%CV 0.4) 142.9 (%CV 2.1)

35.16 824.4 38.93 543.4 27.58

10.45 (%CV 571.2 (%CV 26.43 (%CV 332.9 (%CV 16.36 (%CV 421.6 24.61

63.9 1.394 (%CV 2.1) 1.566 (%CV 14.1) 155.6 (%CV 0.6) 149.9 (%CV 2.2)

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Table 4 Constituent properties Constituent Fibre Matrix Tensile strength (MPa) 1139 80 Tensile modulus (GPa) 71 2.5 Warp V f (RTM) 0.253 0.747 Warp V f (autoclave) 0.322 0.678

entire length of the bre; that the bres and matrix were perfectly bonded; that all bres broke simultaneously after application of the tensile load; and that there were no variations in constituent properties or bre volume fraction. In practice, crimp and misalignment of the yarns during handling means that some departures from the ideal architecture are inevitable. Consequently, the properties will be reduced compared to the estimated values. The use of a plain weave, which maximises crimp, magnies these effects. Also, prior to separation, damage mechanisms such as disbonding and delamination mean that the tensile load will no longer be shared by the two phases in the simple way assumed by the ROM. In addition, manufacturing induced defects such as bre breakage, matrix cracking and voidage all contribute to reductions in measured strength and modulus. Micrographs taken from representative areas of each laminate type are shown in Figure 3. The effects of the higher autoclave pressure are immediately apparent from the high degree of compaction which is evident in both the 90 bre bundles which are visible and in the lenticular 0 tows running out of the section. Also, there are fewer visible resin rich areas in the autoclaved sample, which is again attributed to the higher pressure which caused nesting of the plies and compaction of the tows. These two effects are consistent with the higher bre volume fraction of the autoclaved sample. It is also interesting to note that neither micrograph displays any signicant voidage, which conrms the quantitative results produced by the density measurements at approximately 1.5% in both cases. The results suggest generally that the only inferiority in the vacuum impregnation technique, compared to the wet lay-up and autoclave alternative for glass bre/epoxy, arises from the lower bre fraction which was achieved. Clearly, the bre fraction could be raised (for vacuum impregnation) by introducing a secondary consolidation process, although it remains to be seen if such laminates can be lled satisfactorily using the low pressure gradient which is available from vacuum impregnation if the entire compaction process is carried out beforehand. If this is not the case, then a shift to conventional, pressure-driven RTM process is indicated. Mould stiffness is critical in such processes to control the bre volume fraction and minimise the part thickness variation. However, tooling costs are required to be minimised to reduce the part cost and increase the exibility in production volumes. In this study, a exible upper tool was used. Atmospheric pressure was used to compact and impregnate the fabric reinforcement. Comparison of the thickness distribution compared with that for an autoclave consolidated plaque (Table 3b) shows that the coefcient of variation (CV) for the RTM plaque was twice that from the autoclave. It seems reasonable to expect corresponding variations in the bre volume fraction

Figure 3 (a) Autoclave micrograph at 35 micrograph at 35 magnication

magnication. (b) RTM

and mechanical properties within the plaque (particularly in intensive properties such as the strength values). However, no signicant difference in the variability of properties is evident from Table 3. DMA and DSC were used to determine the T g of both composites. DMA is often reported18 to give T g results that are 10 C higher than those given by DSC. Five tests on each moulding were completed for both methods and the mean values are listed in Table 3c. The results from both techniques suggest that the T g of the RTM composite is slightly lower than that from the autoclave with the DMA results, suggesting a greater difference between the two processes. This difference arises not from any inherent differences in the processing methods, but rather in the different cure schedules which were used. The results indicate that the RTM post-cure cycle was inadequate. This was attributed to the reliance on data from simulated thermal cycles using a dielectric analyser (DEA) to determine the post-cure requirements. The latter were conducted using similar bre volume fractions, whereas the different consolidation pressures during the two processes produced different volume fractions. Clearly, this factor will

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inuence the thermal properties and therefore the progression of the cure cycle. The RTM plaques had a higher resin content with lower thermal conductivity, a higher heat capacity, and resulted in a lower degree of cure. The intrinsic differences between DSC and DMA measurements must also be considered. The former measures a thermochemical change in the resin matrix, and the difference in T g measurements is due only to the different states of cure present in the two sample types. However, since the DMA measures a thermomechanical effect, this is more likely to be inuenced by the bre content, and this may magnify the apparent differences between the two processes. It is also worth noting that the CV for the DMA results is lower than that for the DSC. The improved repeatability may be related to the effects of sample size and the somewhat variable bre content in the relatively small DSC samples. REFERENCES
1. 2. 3. Stringer, L. G., Optimization of the wet lay-up/vacuum bag process for the fabrication of carbon bre epoxy composites with high bre fraction and low void content. Composites, 1989, 20(5), 441452. Wenger, W., Investigations into 3-D reinforcements for composite materials. D. Phil. thesis, University of Ulster, 1993. Unger, E. W. and Wiedmann, J., Application of RTM techniques in the manufacturing of a radome design for high rain resistance. In 8th European Electromagnetic Structures Conference, Nottingham, UK, 1995. Becker, W., RTM simultaneous design and tooling reduces cost and handling time. In 23rd International SAMPE Conference, Kiamesha Lake, New York, 1991, pp. 601608. McCarthy, R. F. J., Haines, G. H. and Newley, R. A., Polymer composite applications to aerospace equipment. Composites Manufacturing, 1994, 5(2), 8393. Marchbank, I., Automated RTM for an airframe component, In Materials and ProcessingMove into the 90s, Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, 1989, pp. 7586. Gottesman, T., Green, A. K., Itah, Y., Rimoch, Y. and Solomon, L., Development of resin transfer moulding for manufacture of highly loaded components. In Advanced Materials: Cost Effectiveness, Quality Control, Health and Environment. SAMPE/Elsevier Science B.V., 1991, pp. 337346. Chestney, J. A. and Sarhadi, M., A prototype manufacturing cell for automation assembly of bre reinforced composite performs. In 4th International Conference on Automated Composites, The Albert Hall, Nottingham, 1995, pp. 439446. Turner, M. R., Rudd, C. D., Long, A. C., Middleton, V. and McGeehin, P., Automated bre lay-down techniques for preform manufacture. In 4th International Conference on Automated Composites, The Albert Hall, Nottingham, 1995, pp. 431438. Judd, N. W. C. and Wright, W. W., Voids and their effects on the mechanical properties of compositesAn appraisal. SAMPE Journal, 1978, 14, 1014. Abraham, D. and McIlhagger, R., A review of liquid injection techniques for the manufacture of aerospace composite structures. Polymers and Polymer Composites, 1996, 4(6), 437443. Staffan Lundstrom, T., Void formation and transport in manufactur ing of polymer composites. Doctoral Thesis 1996:184D, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden. Hayward, J. S. and Harris, B., Processing factors affecting the quality of resin transfer moulded composites. Plastics and Rubber Processing Applications, 1989, 11, 191198. Abraham, D. and McIlhagger, R., Vacuum assisted resin transfer moulding for high performance carbon bre composites. In 4th International Conference on Automated Composites, The Albert Hall, Nottingham, 1995, pp. 299306. Williams, C., Summerscales, J. and Grove, S., Resin infusion under exible tooling (RIFT): a review. Composites, Part A, 1996, 27A, 517524. Hayward, J. S. and Harris, B., Effect of process variables on the quality of RTM mouldings. SAMPE Journal, 1990, 26(3), 3946. Akay, M., Cracknell, J. G. and Farnham, H. A., Detection of undercure in carbon bre/epoxy composites by dynamic cure analysis. Polymers and Polymer Composites, 1994, 2(5), 317322. O Neal, H. R., Welch, S., Rogers, J., Guilford, S., Curran, G. and Menard, K. P., Comparison of T g values for a graphite epoxy composite by differential scanning Calorimetry (DSC), thermo-mechanical analysis (TMA) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), Journal of Advanced Materials, 1995, 4954. Curtis, P.T. (ed.), Test Methods for the Measurement of Engineering Properties of Fibre Reinforced Plastics, Royal Aerospace Establishment, Composites Research Advisory Group (CRAG), Technical Report 88012, Issue 3 (Final), 16th February 1988.

4. 5. 6. 7.

8.

CONCLUSIONS
9.

RTM, based upon vacuum impregnation, offers materials and labour cost savings compared with conventional autoclaving, operational and health and safety benets compared to wet laminating and reductions in tooling costs compared to normal (positive pressure driven) RTM. This study has shown that laminate quality from vacuum impregnation is comparable with autoclave consolidation when the same materials are used. However, the bre fractions available from vacuum impregnation are somewhat lower due to the lower consolidation pressure and this inuences the mechanical and thermal properties of the laminate. A secondary consolidation process would overcome this problem.

10. 11. 12. 13. 14.

15. 16. 17.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to thank CS-Interglas for supplying the glass bre and also David Hurry of Ciba Polymers for supplying the epoxy resin. Also, thanks are due to Roy Carton and Maurice Jamieson for their assistance in processing and testing the samples respectively. Financial support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Technology Development Programme (TDP) is also gratefully acknowledged.

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