The study of injection/compression liquid composite molding

Liquid composite molding (LCM) is one of the most important processes to produce reinforced plastics. To reduce the injection pressure and improve the part quality, injection/compression liquid composite molding (I/CLCM) was applied in this study. The research was conducted through modeling, numerical simulation, and experimental analysis. Control-volume finite-element method (CVFEM) has been widely used in LCM simulation. This research applied this numerical approach to simulate the I/CLCM processes. The simulation results were verified through experimental analysis. An analytical solution was derived to calculate the required injection pressure and filling time. A three-point bending test was also conducted to compare the mechanical properties of LCM parts and I/CLCM parts.