INTEMA   05428
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES EN CIENCIA Y TECNOLOGIA DE MATERIALES
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Capillary Effects in Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding with Natural Fibers
Autor/es:
GASTON FRANCUCCI; ANALÍA VAZQUEZ; EXEQUIEL RODRIGUEZ; EDU RUIZ
Lugar:
A
Reunión:
Conferencia; FPCM-10 - The 10th International Conference on Flow Processes in Composite Materials; 2010
Resumen:
Automotive industry has shown in the last years a growing interest in
the use of green composites. Fibrous reinforcements made from natural resources have
the advantage of being renewable, abundant, and cheaper than synthetic fibers and pose
comparable mechanical properties. Liquid Composite Molding (LCM) techniques have
proved to be suitable for processing natural fibers. Nevertheless, few issues still to be
resolved, such as fiber impregnation and bonding to the polymeric matrix. Capillary
effects have shown to be key in the impregnation of the fibers, mainly when the resin is
infused or injected at low pressure. In the case of natural fibers, important capillary
effects take place during impregnation due to the hollow structure of the fibers, small
diameter and molecular polarity. In this work, the capillary pressure of a woven jute
fabric was measured for different fiber volume fractions and its effect on permeability
was studied. Permeability tests were conducted with different fluids in order to evaluate
the impact of the chemical nature of the fluids in the infiltration process. This research
gives an insight on capillary effects occurred during LCM with natural fibers.