DRAPING SIMULATION OF WOVEN FABRICS
Woven fabric composites are extensively used in molding complex geometrical shapes due to their high conformability compared to other fabrics. Preforming is an important step in the overall process, where the two-dimensional fabric is draped to become the three-dimensional shape of the part prior to resin injection. During preforming, the orientation of the yarns may change significantly compared to the initial orientations. Accurate prediction of the yarn orientations after molding is important for evaluating the structural performance of the final part. This paper presents a systematic investigation of the angle changes during the preform operation for carbon fiber twill and satin weave fabrics. Preforming experiments were conducted using a truncated pyramid mold geometry designed and fabricated at the General Motors Research Laboratories. Predicted results for the yarn orientations were compared with experimental results and good agreement was observed
- Research Organization:
- General Motors LLC, Detroit, MI (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies Office (EE-3V)
- DOE Contract Number:
- EE0006826
- OSTI ID:
- 1427777
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-GM-CarbonFiber-ICME
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Society of Plastics Engineers: Automotive Composites Conference & Exhibition, Detroit MI
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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