Simulation of the Resin Infiltration in Fiber Bundles Using the Lattice Boltzmann Method

Resin transfer molding is one of the methods for fabricating polymer composite.The process injects the resin into a mold cavity with preplaced dry fibers while the air is discharged from the outlet. The flow behavior of the resin infiltration in fibers is the key factor affecting the quality of the fabricated composite. In this work, we applied the lattice Boltzmann method with a single-component pseudo-potential model and single-phase free surface model to simulate the flow of resin infiltration inside and between fiber bundles. The effect of surface tension was modelled by the molecular potential without estimations the interface geometry. Besides, the effects of the fiber bundle shape and arrangement on the filling flow patterns are analyzed by using the either circular or elliptical shapes offiber bundles in the simulations. The flow behaviors of resin injection and bubble formation are discussed with the factors as the resin and fiber contact angle, injection speed, fiber bundle spacing, fiber bundle arrangement, and the gaps between fibers. The results of this work successfully present the modeling of the resin infiltration in fibers with consideration of the surface tension effect. In addition, we discuss the bubble formation for the simulations with different fiber arrangements.