THERMO-CHEMICAL AND RHEOLOGICAL FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF THE CURE PROCESS OF THICK CARBON-EPOXY COMPOSITE LAMINATES

This paper deals with the development and the validation of a computational model for the analysis of the thermo-chemical and rheological aspects related to the autoclave cure process of thick carbon-epoxy composite laminate. The transient three dimensional distributions of temperature, reaction rate, degree of cure, and viscosity into the processing material have been evaluated, assuming the time-temperature curve and the heat generation rate due to resin reaction as thermal load and solving the energy balance using a finite element scheme. The rheological behaviour of the processing resin has been studied assuming a three parameters correlation models for the evaluation of the processing material viscosity. A good agreement between present results and data reported in the related literature has been found. The proposed model can be used as an effective tool for analysis and design of optimized thermal cycles.