TOWARDS A MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY FOR HIGH-VOLUME PRODUCTION OF COMPOSITE COMPONENTS

The last decade has seen strong interest from high-volume manufacturers such as the automotive industry in the development of processes which provide cost effective routes to the manufacture of components in fibre-reinforced composite materials. This paper considers one family of processes that have been targeted as offering a solution-that of resin transfer moulding (RTM)-and reviews the findings of work based at the University of Nottingham. The mechanisms involved are examined together with the variants on the basic process and the implications for high-volume production. Consideration is given to process technology, materials and the relationship between design and manufacture. A route to high-volume manufacture based upon computer aided engineering is proposed.