Ultrasonic Testing of Resin Impregnation in Resin Transfer Molding

The liquid composite molding (LCM) process such as resin transfer molding (RTM) is widely used technology for producing fiber reinforced composite materials. The quality of LCM products are strongly dependent on the resin impregnation of fiber preform during the mold-filling stage. In order to avoid creation of dry spots as well as voids, it is desirable to monitor resin impregnation process in a nondestructive manner. In this study, an experimental setup is designed to achieve unidirectional resin flow, and ultrasonic testing is applied to detect resin flow front and resin impregnation in RTM process.