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Virtual Design and Demonstration of a Carbon Fiber Composite Load Floor
Abstract
Despite the advantages in weight savings and parts consolidation of composites relative to steel and aluminum, their use for automotive structural components has traditionally been limited by the lack of reliable material and component modeling capabilities. Our team has developed models that allow us to better understand the multi-scale, multi-physics that govern the manufacturing process of composite materials so that we can simulate the manufacturing of continuous carbon fiberreinforced composite parts with much-improved precision. This paper details the design and manufacturing approach for a composite load bearing floor that is manufactured using high pressure resin transfer molding (HP-RTM). While resin transfer molding (RTM) is a relatively old technology that traditionally required cycle times that were far too long for most automotive applications, by injecting the resin at higher pressures, significant improvements are possible. Additionally, significantly faster-curing epoxy resin systems have become commercially available, enabling lower cycle times. Taken together, these developments have made HP-RTM a highly desirable molding process for volume manufacturing of complex parts. HP-RTM also easily allows for the use of continuous fibers, which are crucial for an assembly to meet rigorous crash performance requirements. The manufacturing process was modeled extensively to predict the optimal injection strategy and molding conditions. Feedback from these simulations was used to rationally develop the tooling design. This floor’s large size presented particular challenges for filling the part before the resin reached its gel point. The key variables
DOI
10.12783/asc35/34919
10.12783/asc35/34919