A unique method for curing composite materials by introducing vibration treatment into the hybrid heating process

Abstract

Carbon fiber reinforced plastics provide many excellent properties and are widely used in the aerospace industry. However, the existing composites autoclave process still faces difficulties such as high-energy consumption, uneven distribution of temperature field, complications of pressure transmission, and high cost, which limit their application in manufacturing of large complex composites components. In this study, the vibration treatment was introduced into the composites microwave curing process innovatively. On the basis of giving full play to the uniform heating characteristics of the microwave, the problems of a large number of internal defects and poor molding quality caused by the insufficient curing pressure have been solved. The results showed that the samples cured by the improved microwave process without external pressure had a few internal voids, excellent interface bonding conditions, and lower residual stress. Their properties were almost consistent with the samples prepared by the standard autoclave process, which provided a new method for the high-performance, efficient, safe, and low-cost manufacturing of large complex composites components.

Keywords

microwave curing / vibration treatment / voids / curing strain

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