• Liquid Composites Molding (LCM) is a widely used technology for manufacturing woven composite parts. The initial step of LCM involves forming a dry fabric reinforcement into the structure’s shape, followed by resin injecting and curing to produce the final part.
• The formability of composite reinforcements is closely constrained by the mould’s geometry, fabric material characteristics, and the manufacturing parameters. Failure to optimize these elements can result in significant defects such as out-of-plane wrinkling, in-plane waviness, tow buckling, fiber fracture, slippage, among others, and eventually lead to scrapping the parts.

This project aims to investigate the forming process and deformation mechanisms of Natural Woven Fabrics towards optimizing their performance in high-volume productions.

Project team: Olivia Margoto, Dr. Abbas Milani, Dr. Yasmine Abdin