Estudo do processamento de materiais compósitos com inserts impermeáveis embebidos via RTM.

Abstract

Composite materials are synonymous with good mechanical properties associated with low structural weight and have a great variety of applications in the engineering area. Taking into account technological advances and the necessity to develop new materials, make them multifunctional appears as immediate interest. The simplest method to confer multifunctionality to a composite is through the introduction of inserts into the composites, giving them the most varied characteristics. It is important to understand how these inserts will a ect the fabrication process and the structural characterization of the material. The experimental analysis of the ow through the preform and the effects due to the addition of the impermeable inserts to the composite during the process of Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) are the objectives of this work. In this work, reinforcement of glass ber fabric and polyester resin matrix was used in the composition of 250x250x14 mm3 composite materials sheets with 1 and 9 polyethylene impermeable inserts with dimensions of 50x50x4 mm3, processed by the RTM Light and VARTM methods for future structural and/or ballistic application. As expected, introduction of inserts into the preform caused disturbances in resinow during processing, with surface regions in some of the plates above the inserts where the bers were not wetted. At the end of the processing, variations in the thickness of the plates were observed, being this a consequence of the bercompaction due to the presence of the inserts. The movement of the inserts was also identi ed when the resininlet and outlet were positioned on di erent planes in the mold. the inserts movimentation was prevented from attaching the inserts to a mesh before the processing.With the cutting of the plates, resin-rich regions close to the sides of the inserts were observed, which is a consequence of the mechanism of ber spacing due to the presence of the inserts. Thus, 4 zones were identi ed in the composites with embedded impermeable inserts. Finally, in the 3-point bending tests, delamination failures for shear mode II were identi ed in the specimens.