Volume 8, Issue 6, 1999

The Use of Low Pressure Compression in Resin Transfer Moulding to Enhance the Fibre Volume Fraction of Composite Materials.

Scott McGovern and P.-Y. Ben Jar*

Department of Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.

* Current address: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton T6G 2G8, Canada

(Received 8/99;accepted 11/99)

ABSTRACT

A low-pressure compression was applied after complete resin injection in the manufacture of resin transfer moulded (RTM) glass-fibre-reinforced laminates. Representative laminates were produced and their fibre volume fraction’s (Vf’s) compared with that of laminates manufactured under conventional vacuum-driven RTM. The intralaminar and overall Vf’s were examined from images generated through scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and each manufacturing process was compared for its ability to produce uniform high Vf composites.