Resin transfer molding process optimization

The art of process optimization requires a clear understanding of the differences between each of the widely different optimization strategies available. Often, a sophisticated method that has been well tested in other fields is not applicable at all to problems in resin transfer molding (RTM). This work discusses the strength and weakness of the genetic algorithm and the gradient based algorithms. Two different types of RTM process optimization have been documented. In the first case, gate locations are optimized to minimize the fill time. The optimum design variables were located using the quasi-Newtonian method implemented in the code GLO. In the second case, the permeability of the high permeability layers is varied to minimize resin waste in addition to minimizing the fill time. For this problem, a graphical search was used to locate the optimum design.

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