| Abstract Scope |
In a recent publication (Robertson et al., Nature, 2018), a manufacturing technique for thermoset composites based on the frontal polymerization (FP) of the resin was demonstrated. Taking advantage of the self-sustaining propagating nature of the exothermic polymerization process, the out-of-autoclave FP-based manufacturing of fiber-reinforced composites was shown to yield substantial (orders of magnitude) savings in time and energy compared to conventional autoclave-based processes. In this project, we use a multi-physics reaction-diffusion model to analyze the effect of the volume fraction and geometry of the reinforcing fibers on the propagation of the polymerization front in a variety of woven composites and composite laminates with emphasis on carbon-fiber-reinforced dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) resin material. The analysis is performed numerically using a 3D nonlinear finite element solver for the transient temperature and degree-of-cure fields in the composite panel, and analytically using a homogenized form of the reaction-diffusion model. The modeling results are validated with experimental observations of front propagation in various composite panels.
Robertson, I. D., Yourdkhani, M., Centellas, P. J., Aw, J. E., Ivanoff, D. G., Goli, E., Lloyd, E. M., Dean, L. M., Sottos, N. R., Geubelle, P. H., Moore, J. S., and White, S. R. (2018) “Rapid energy-efficient manufacturing of polymers and composites via frontal polymerization.” Nature, 557, 223-227. |