Experimental approach of tow behaviors in resin-impregnated glass fiber for GFRP manufacture

Abstract

Over the last decade, the demand for glass fiber and carbon fiber reinforced composites has been increasing in composite industries, such as aerospace, wind energy, automotive, and marine industries. This study focuses on composite-material based turbine blade manufacturing, especially for the glass fiber behavior in resin flow, which can be observed in the process of resin impregnation in fibers with different flow rate conditions. Tow deformation was observed for the two main tow behaviors—tow thickness and distance. The results confirmed that tow thickness decreased when positioned along the flow direction with increasing flow rate. Furthermore, the distance between the tows also decreased when positioned along the flow direction.