Manufacturability study of nano-enhanced fiber reinforced polymeric composites (FRPCs)

Due to the ever increasing cost of energy, there is an increased demand of lightweight materials. Towards that goal, we need to take advantage of new material developments such as is the case of nano-reinforced polymeric composites. The use of nanoparticles has shown improvement in mechanical properties of fiber reinforced polymeric composites (FRPC) but with adverse effect on processability, thus fully understanding the manufacturability of these processes is critical. Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM) is the primary molding technique considered due to its significant advantages over other molding techniques and large size capacity. In this process, permeability plays a key role in determining processability. Understanding how permeability of these nano-enhanced FPRC is affected by the addition of nanoparticles is the main focus of this study.