Manufacturing techniques for polymer matrix composites

Polymer matrix composites are used extensively across a wide range of industries, making the design and development of effective manufacturing processes of great importance. This book aims at presenting state-of-the-art yet comprehensive knowledge of selected commonly used or emerging composite manufacturing processes. Each chapter, written by an expert of that process, first describes the process and provides physics insights and then introduces the corresponding models and scientific understanding. The manufacturing processes are grouped into three parts based on their processing characteristics or physics. The beginning section discusses the two commonly used polymer processes used for composite manufacturing: injection molding and compression molding, while the middle group of chapters reviews thermoplastic based processing. Thermoset processing is the focus of the conclusion, which explains resin transfer molding, vacuum assisted resin transfer molding, compression resin transfer molding, pultrusion, autoclave processing and out-of-autoclave processing.