Experimental Analysis of Process Parameters in Composite Manufacturing

With the growing world demand on composite products, composite manufacturers are increasingly moving towards adopting automated composite manufacturing. However, current automated machines are not optimized and have throughput limitations. Most of them only target specific composite processes. Because the shortage of understanding on the processing factors and knowledge on precise process control, the products get high probability to come with defect. This paper provides an experimental methodology to explore the relationship between the structural properties of composite parts and processing factors. The paper also provides composite manufacturers a guide for processing condition optimization, productivity improvement and cost reduction. The raw material involved in this paper is an aerospace grade carbon fiber prepreg and was used to fabricate composite samples in a hot press machine system in the experiment. To investigate the effects of processing factors, specimens were fabricated using a series of combinations of different factor values. Three point bending flexural test was performed to evaluate the quality of each sample. Collected data are analyzed by statistical methods and fitted to a multiple linear regression model, which provides insights for composite manufacturing.