Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Method

Faculty Mentor

Dr. Awlad Hossain

Presentation Type

Poster

Start Date

5-8-2024 11:15 AM

End Date

5-8-2024 1:00 PM

Location

PUB NCR

Primary Discipline of Presentation

Engineering

Abstract

Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Method

The vacuum assisted resin transfer method (VARTM) is a process used to fabricate composite materials. This process is done using a mold or plate as a base and then building up the rest of the set up from there. On the base is the vacuum seal tape, spiral or percolated tubing, a connector for the tubing, the fiber plies in the center, separation layer, vacuum mesh, and the vacuum bag layer. This setup is then connected to the resin container. The other end is connected to a catch pot and vacuum pump. The purpose of the VARTM guided study was to get a VARTM set up working in the EWU materials project lab. The set up created for this required buying the catch pot and spiral hose materials, and 3-D printing of the connectors for the spiral to outside tubing. Using this set up it was observed that the resin flowed through the system at an extremely slow rate which caused the resin to harden before it could all be pulled into the system by the pump properly. Another observation was made that the epoxy used held many small bubbles that were difficult to remove. The seal was also not consistent; for some of the sheets the seal survived until the full twenty-four-hour cure times, other samples the seal slowly failed. It caused inconsistency, and reduced flow rate. The four usable sheets were then cut into dog bone shapes to be tensile tested. From the data gathered, each sheet had massive spread in max load values between its samples. It was expected that the samples for each sheet would follow a closer spread than this. For future experiments to fix these inconsistencies it is recommended to use a silicon mold for a better seal material. The incorrect epoxy, separation, and breather materials also can cause inconsistency, and acquiring the correct ones should improve the resin flow.

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May 8th, 11:15 AM May 8th, 1:00 PM

Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Method

PUB NCR

Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Method

The vacuum assisted resin transfer method (VARTM) is a process used to fabricate composite materials. This process is done using a mold or plate as a base and then building up the rest of the set up from there. On the base is the vacuum seal tape, spiral or percolated tubing, a connector for the tubing, the fiber plies in the center, separation layer, vacuum mesh, and the vacuum bag layer. This setup is then connected to the resin container. The other end is connected to a catch pot and vacuum pump. The purpose of the VARTM guided study was to get a VARTM set up working in the EWU materials project lab. The set up created for this required buying the catch pot and spiral hose materials, and 3-D printing of the connectors for the spiral to outside tubing. Using this set up it was observed that the resin flowed through the system at an extremely slow rate which caused the resin to harden before it could all be pulled into the system by the pump properly. Another observation was made that the epoxy used held many small bubbles that were difficult to remove. The seal was also not consistent; for some of the sheets the seal survived until the full twenty-four-hour cure times, other samples the seal slowly failed. It caused inconsistency, and reduced flow rate. The four usable sheets were then cut into dog bone shapes to be tensile tested. From the data gathered, each sheet had massive spread in max load values between its samples. It was expected that the samples for each sheet would follow a closer spread than this. For future experiments to fix these inconsistencies it is recommended to use a silicon mold for a better seal material. The incorrect epoxy, separation, and breather materials also can cause inconsistency, and acquiring the correct ones should improve the resin flow.