Summary
The resistive supplemental heating strategy for accelerating the cure process was investigated experimentally and numerically
Based on the configurations studied:
- Use of 1 carbon mat, at high power was found to yield the least cure time, but also a high temperature gradient
- Use of 2 carbon mats with high power was found to be optimum with regard to the cure time and the quality-related parameters
- The local void fractions were high in the vicinity of the carbon mats, but no significant detrimental effect was noticed in the overall void fractions
A processing window was developed based on the experimental results