An original procedure to determine transverse permeability using a multilayer reinforcement in RTM

Abstract

Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) is a manufacturing process for polymer composites parts for a variety of uses. The numerical simulation of the resin flow into the mold can be used to minimize costs related to mold design and the manufacturing process itself. However, to obtain realistic results, accurate information about the resin and the reinforcement media are necessary. In the multilayer RTM, distinct porous media layers are stacked to obtain a final composite with better performance. For the numerical simulation of the multilayer RTM, transverse permeability (Kzz) data are necessary. This work proposes an original methodology to determine the transverse permeability in multilayer RTM composites, assuming that the in-plane permeabilities (Kxx and Kyy) are known and using this information, combined with experimental data obtained during mold filling. The motivation of this study is the fact that the transverse permeability is usually not available in the literature, being referred to as a difficult parameter to be directly determined using experiments.