Experimental and numerical study of the tool-part interaction in autoclaved composite parts

Fibre reinforced composite materials cannot be manufactured without any geometric distortions. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of tool-part interaction on shape distortions in composite manufacturing. A basic Finite Element Model for the chosen geometry and stacking sequences was developed to predict numerically the actual distortion of composite parts. Three step model was implemented to take into account three different states of resin, namely viscous, rubbery and glassy properties. Composite parts in flat and double curvature geometries were manufactured and distortions were measured to compare with the numerical results. In addition to the comparison of distortion between numerical and experimental studies, tool-part interaction was measured experimentally in order to examine the isolated effect of tool part-interaction. The shape distortion measurements were compared with the numerical predictions and the discrepancies were discussed.