CASE STUDY

ON
MANUFACTURING OF
COMPOSITE USING
OOA TECHNIQUE

Submitted By:
Raj Kamal
Student Id: 6443052

Manufacturing of Composite using OOA technique

During my project, I visited many times the lab where I made my project. During the
manufacturing of laminate, I was very curious because there was lot of question in my mind.
During the project I observed a lot of factors which effects the quality of the final product.
Some of the factors which I observed are controllable and some are uncontrollable. In this
short summary of project I had tried to discuss all those things which I had learnt in a small
span of time in lab.
We cannot apply much pressure in OOA process and absence of pressure is the main reason
for resin rich area and voids in out of autoclave (OOA) manufacturing process. But here I
will try to discuss some other few reason too, that are also responsible for the defects in
laminate.

Introduction
Composite materials are made by combination of fiber and matrix materials which result in
the creation of materials that have a synergy effect, which cannot be obtained having the
same elements in separate forms. There are many techniques of manufacturing product using
composites and out of all those techniques one of the cost effective technique is out of
autoclave (OOA) technique. But there are also some defects produced in this technique which
are given below:
1) Resin rich area
2) Voids
3) Fiber to fiber contact (absence of resin)
4) Porosity
5) Delamination
6) Less inter fiber spacing
7) Ply misalignment
8) Waviness or fiber undulation
9) Moisture
10) Wrinkles on surface
11) Improper orientation of fiber
12) Poor interface Bonding effect due to expired prepreg
Now there are some variables due to which these defects are produced. These variables can be
controlled in effective manner to minimize the defects. Therefore in the following section those all
variables are discussed along with the defects produced by them and their possible solutions in the
form of recommendations.

Main variables affecting the quality of final product in OOA technique:

In the following section the various variables which affect the quality of final product
in OOA technique are discussed along wither defects and possible solution:
1. Roller Pressure:
Rollers are used to apply the compaction pressure when the different layers of the
prepregs are laid upon one another. Now there may be three different cases due to
which the final part can become defective.
Highly compressed areas
Low compressed areas
Areas without any compaction
Now the various defects produced due to this uneven roller pressure are explained
bellow:
a) Resin rich area: These resin rich areas are defined as localized areas filled
with resin and there is lacking of reinforcing material that are fibers. These
areas are weak areas due to high stress concentration where under loading,
cracks will appear. The consolidation pressure should be applied uniformly to
prevent waviness and hence resin rich areas. Therefore roller pressure is an
important variable to control this defect. Figure 2 shows how resin rich areas
are produced due to waviness caused by improper compaction.

Resin rich area

Fibers

Fig. 2: Showing resin rich areas

b) Low strength: The volume fraction of the composite should be high. If the
volume fraction will not be high then there will be resin rich areas. The resin
rich areas have low fracture strength and hence the overall strength of the
composite decreases. To increase the volume fraction we should apply
sufficient pressure which further is applied by rollers.
c) Voids: If the compaction of the laminate is done properly then we can remove
the air entrapped between the different prepreg layers which is responsible for
the void formation in the laminate. Therefore roller pressure is also a important
variable for minimising this defect.
d) Fiber to fiber contact: If there is fiber to fiber contact in the final product then
the fibers will not be able to transfer the load between each other and this

defect is called as Domino effect. Now this defect can be controlled by

controlling the roller pressure. Figure 3 shows the fiber to fiber contact in a
laminate.

Fiber to fiber contact

Figure: 2 Showing fiber to fiber contact
e) Waviness at edges: There may be some areas which may remain uncompact
due to improper shape of rollers or method of rolling. These areas which
remain uncompact are mainly the edges of the laminate and hence they become
wavy.
Recommendations to control above defects:
As all of the above effects are caused mainly due to the hand roller which is
used for compaction of composite so therefore we should put our efforts to effectively
design the roller. There are some ways which can be incorporated to reduce the
uneven compaction. The various ways to control the compaction are discussed below:
Roller velocity: The velocity of roller should be appropriate. If the velocity of
roller is too fast or too slow then there may be areas of uneven compaction. So
focus should be given to find out the appropriate velocity of roller for
compaction.
Pattern of rolling: There should be a predefined pattern which should be
most effective to produce uniform compaction. Hence focus is also required in
this area to find most effective pattern.
Roller design: The roller should be of such type which will minimize the
uneven pressure applied by the person operating the roller. The proposed
design of roller is given below:
Travel direction
Effort handle

Roller
Figure3: Showing proposed design for roller
2. Way of laying prepregs:
If the way in which various layers of prepregs are laid on one another is not proper
then there may be some defects in the final laminate. The various defects produced
due to this are discussed as below:
a) Voids: Presence of voids are mainly caused by volatile resin components, air
not properly controlled during cure, entrapment of air during lay up of plies,
size and quality of the material used in a composite.
b) Wrinkles on surface: The wrinkles are found on the surface of the laminate
when the plies are not properly laid.
c) Fiber undulations: If the plies are not properly laid then there may be
undulation on the surface. So fibers should be laid properly.
Recommendation:
The lay-up of prepregs should be done in such a way so that there is least
air entrapment or least fiber undulation between prepregs layers. The
following figure shows the way in which prepregs should be laid down.

Compaction Roller

Prepreg

Travel Direction

Lay Up Tool
Figure 4: Showing the proper way of lay-up of prepregs

3. Controlled heat transfer:

For the curing of laminate we have to put them in oven so that proper curing of
laminate can be done. The various defects produced due to uncontrolled heat transfer
are as follows:
a) Non uniform curing of laminate: If curing of laminate is not uniform then
the strength of the laminate also varies according to the degree of cure. This is
because the lower surface of the laminate is in contact with the mold, therefore

degree of cure is different at the bottom of the laminate and the top layer
which is not in contact with the mold is cured to a different extent.
b) Burning of prepregs: If the temperature of the heat supply is very high then it
may also happen that prepregs get burned.
Recommendation:
The detailed study of the complete assembly should be done to calculate
the heat transfer to the laminate surfaces so that as far as possible uniform
curing can be done.
4. Degree of shrinkage of resin:
There is always some shrinkage of the resin when it gets changed from liquid to solid.
The defect produced due to this property of the resin is given below:
a) Change in dimensions: There occurs expansion and contraction of resin and
fiber due to increase and decrease in temperature of the cycle. Hence due to
this reasons it may happen that our final product is not of proper size.
Recommendation:
Proper allowances should be provided to compensate the shrinkage of
laminate due to change in temperature.
Proper methods (e.g. PVT method and Ultrasonic method) should be used
to determine the shrinkage of material easily.
5. Cutting of tape:
The cutting of tape is done from the prepreg roll according to the size and shape
required by the laminate. Now this cutting is also a very crucial aspect which need to
be considered. If the cutting is not proper then following defect can arise.
a) Non uniform cross section: When we cut the prepreg tape with help of knife
then we see that the cross-section of the prepreg tape is curved at the corners.
This results in the non-uniform thickness of the laminate.
Recommendation:
Some automatic method must be used for accurate cutting of the prepregs.
6. Prepreg material:
The selection of resin for prepreg preparation is very important. Only some selected
resins are used according to their property for preparing prepregs which are further
used to make laminate by OOA technique. If the selection of material is not proper
than following defects can occur:
a) Voids: The prepregs which are used for preparing laminate by OOA technique
must be porous so that entrapped air between different plies can easily escape

through these pores. If the prepregs will not have sufficient porosity than voids
will be formed in the final laminate.
b) Improper bonding: If the resin used for prepreg preparation is expired than
the bonding will not be proper because in that case resin in the surface area of
the sheets will be partially cured compared with the resin contained in the
laminate, allowing the formation of resin rich areas already cured and
preventing the layers of laminate to be fully bonded and correctly cured.