A Numerical Model on Cure Process-induced Deformation of Thermoset Composite Parts

A numerical model was proposed to predict the process-induced deformation of composite parts,one of the most important problems in the curing process of composite structures,by introducing a shear coefficient to replace the tool-part interaction between the tool and composite laminates in cuing process. A parametric study was performed to obtain the magnitude of the coefficient for tool-part interaction by only a few test data.Results from the numerical model was compared with experimental data publicly published and good agreement was obtained,despite some simplifying assumptions made in the analytical model.It is also shown that this model could successfully predict processing deformations of the composite parts of different dimensions under different processing conditions when complicated changes of the material parameters are neglected.