Inner Mold Dynamics for High Fiber Volume FRP Resin Impregnation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current RTM methods face challenges in achieving high fiber volume content rates in three-dimensionally shaped, thick-walled fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) molded articles, particularly for aircraft components, due to restricted resin flow, high production time and labor, waste generation, and difficulty in controlling plate thickness and surface quality.
Innovation Solution
A production method and apparatus that uses a preform with a three-dimensional shape and an inner mold operable laterally, combined with a thermally expansive body to adjust the mold cavity dimensions, allowing for efficient resin impregnation and control of the preform thickness, enabling high fiber volume content rates in FRP molded articles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If the internal dimension height of the mold cavity is adjusted to match the product thickness during resin injection, then the resin impregnation is efficient, but it becomes difficult to produce three-dimensionally shaped and thick-walled FRP molded articles with high fiber volume content rate
Solution Approach 1:
The invention introduces an inner mold that can be operated in a lateral direction different from the up-down mold clamping direction. This inner mold allows dynamic adjustment of the mold cavity dimensions during the molding process, enabling the production of three-dimensionally shaped and thick-walled FRP molded articles with high fiber volume content rate while maintaining efficient resin impregnation.
2Quantity of substance
If conventional RTM methods are used for large FRP structural bodies, then production time and labor increase, but fiber volume content rate control remains difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the mold cavity into multiple independent spaces using an inner mold that can be operated separately from the main mold. This segmentation allows for controlled resin injection and impregnation in specific regions, enabling efficient production of large FRP structural bodies with controlled fiber volume content rate without increasing production time or labor.
3Manufacturing precision
If the mold cavity dimensions are fixed to match the final product thickness, then resin flow is restricted, but it limits the production of thick-walled molded articles with high fiber volume content
Solution Approach 1:
The inner mold operated in the lateral direction enables dynamic adjustment of the mold cavity dimensions during the molding process. This allows the cavity to accommodate thick-walled three-dimensionally shaped FRP molded articles while maintaining controlled resin flow, achieving both high fiber volume content rate and manufacturing precision.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach allows for the production of high-quality, three-dimensionally shaped FRP molded articles with high fiber volume content rates in a short time, improving molding operation characteristics and productivity while simplifying the apparatus used.
Implementation Method 1
a thermally expansive body to adjust the mold cavity dimensions, allowing for efficient resin impregnation and control of the preform thickness
Data Source
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Figure 3(a)~3(c)
AI summary
A production method for a fiber-reinforced plastic, in which a preform made of a reinforcing fiber substrate and having a three-dimensional shape and an inner mold operatable in a lateral direction different from an up-down direction are disposed in a mold cavity formed by an upper mold and a lower mold, and a state in which a plate thickness of the preform has been made greater than the thickness of a molded article to be obtained is brought about, and a matrix resin is injected and impregnated into the preform, and, after that, at least one of the upper mold and the lower mold is operated toward the other and the inner mold is operated in the lateral direction to pressurize the preform, whereby the thickness of the preform is controlled so as to be equal to a predetermined product's thickness, and subsequently the matrix resin is hardened by heating to obtain the molded article, and a production apparatus for a fiber-reinforced plastic for use in the production method.