Optimised cure cycles for resin transfer moulding

In this paper, the optimal design of the cure cycle of a composite material part produced with Resin Transfer Moulding is presented. Combining a computer simulation tool and three alternative numerical optimisation algorithms optimal cure cycles of the composite part production can be automatically designed in a fast way leading to improved quality, reduced production times and scrap. Two popular optimisation methods, namely the Complex (Box) method and the Evolution Strategies, based on two different approaches, have been developed in order to test the efficiency of each approach for the specific application area. In the two test cases, the optimal curing of a thin and a thick composite part, that have been studied at the present paper the effectiveness and the usefulness of the proposed approach are demonstrated together with comparison of the performance of the different optimisation algorithms towards the optimal tuning of the cure cycle. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.