Title: Manufacturing-Informed Performance of Prepreg Platelet Molding Compound

Authors: Anthony J. Favaloro, Benjamin R. Denos, Drew E. Sommer, Rebecca A. Cutting, and Johnathan E. Goodsell

DOI: 10.33599/nasampe/c.19.0761

Abstract: Prepreg platelet molding compounds (PPMCs), consisting of slit and chopped prepreg, offer increased manufacturing flexibility while maintaining the collimation and fiber volume fraction present in unidirectional prepreg. The performance of structures produced with PPMC is highly dependent on the platelet orientations resulting from anisotropic flow during compression molding. An integrated series of manufacturing and performance models are in development for carbon-fiber PPMC panels and substructures. An anisotropic viscosity model to capture the flow behavior characteristic of PPMC has been developed and exercised to predict the platelet orientations resulting from the manufacturing process. The flow model has been validated against several test cases for flow front and fiber orientation arising from multiple charge patterns.

Flow simulation-informed performance models include static stiffness and strength and crash behavior. The static strength model accounts for the discontinuous nature of the PPMC by assigning local material orientation to each finite element. Predictions of failure site and failure load are in good agreement with validation experiments. The novel crash behavior of structures fabricated from PPMC has been characterized and models have been developed to incorporate PPMC behavior into crash simulations. Simulation predictions have been validated on crush tube geometries.

The simulation models, workflow, and results will ultimately be implemented for predicting the manufacturing and performance of an automotive lift gate, while this paper highlights comparison of each model against lab-validation experiments.

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Conference: CAMX 2019

Publication Date: 2019/09/23

SKU: TP19-0761

Pages: 13

Price: $26.00