GAS PERMEABILITY MEASUREMENTS OF OUT OF AUTOCLAVE PREPREG MTM45-1/CF2426A

摘要

Gas permeability pathways in pre-impregnated (prepreg) materials play an important role in the removal of entrapped gases and volatiles during processing. Vacuum evacuation is essential in order to produce composite laminates with low final void content. Gas pathways are of particular importance in out-of-autoclave (OOA) prepregs where the maximum applied pressure during processing is 1 atm. This paper presents a study where the permeability of MTM45-1/CF2426A (epoxy/carbon) prepreg is carefully measured in the through-thickness and in-plane directions. The study examines the effect of the number of layers and the effect of internal ply terminations on the laminate gas permeability. The study shows that gas transport is strongly directional for the studied prepreg with significantly higher permeability in-plane than in the through-thickness direction.