Permeability Measurement of Bidirectional Woven Glass Fibers

In the composites manufacturing processes such as resin transfer molding (RTM), pultrusion, autoclave, and compression molding, the mechanism and resistance of resin flow through fiber reinforcements have an important effect on the final part quality. Because of the anisotropic characteristics of the fiber reinforcements, the flow resistance is different in various directions. To study the mechanisms of resin impregnation during the fabrication of the fiber reinforced composites, it is important to investigate the permeabilities of the fiber reinforcements first. This study proposes an indirect measuring method to obtain the fiber permeabilities. The proposed method can avoid the edge effect and greatly simplify the procedures in the permeability measurements. Reliable and repeatable permeability data can be obtained using this technique.