Material State Monitoring and Autoclave Control System for Validating Models for Detecting Process-Induced Damages in Polymer Composites
Abstract
Composite material cure recipes are based on manufacturer-recommended cure cycle inputs,which are developed as a result of various stochastic cure kinetics models during thedevelopment of resin formulation. The time, temperature, pressure, and vacuum integrity areinputs for autoclave cure, but none of them are direct measurements of the material state andhave no direct correlation to viscoelastic characteristics or mechanical performance of the curedmaterial. The proposed process development system includes autoclave controls that aremodified so that the set points are controlled based on externally determined material state of thelaminate in the autoclave, which is monitored remotely by a rheological measurements and amaterial state estimate based on the process and cure state models. With the proposed processcontrolarchitecture, material will be cured to achieve the desired viscoelastic and mechanicalproperties with minimizing the variability cause by the initial material state (ex., shelf- and outlife)by monitoring the rheological response and managing the autoclave temperature to achievethe desired cure state. It also directly measures the initial viscoelastic state, which is a measureof material performance at the point of production rather than arbitrarily constraining the processsolely to a time-temperature history, in order to achieve an assumed cure state. Themethodology will be used for interrogating the manufacturing-induced defects of polymercomposites in a controlled environment and link them to boundary conditions. The materialstatedatabase developed through validated process models brings about the virtual environment,where the actual boundary conditions can be interrogated during the cure, to ensure that thematerial achieves its optimal performance. Principal investigators are collaborating with severalpartners on Navy STTR FY2015.A Topic N15A-0003; all three aspects of this DURIP research(rheological studies for effects of defects, process modeling, and NDI) are in line with activitiesplanned for this STTR proposal
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 04, 2017
- Source ID
- N000141712069
Entities
People
- Waruna Seneviratne
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- Wichita State University