• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.301-308
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• 2015

To reduce the weight of a railroad vehicle, a bogie frame skin is considered for manufacture using an RTM process and composite material. Compared to other processes, RTM has merits in that it demands only simple manufacturing facilities and can produce a large and complex structure in a short cycle time. On the other hand, it is important to determine the proper number and locations of gates and vents to prevent void formation inside a structure. In this study, we numerically predicted the flow pattern in a bogie frame skin during the RTM process by distinguishing the permeability of a fiber mat as isotropic or anisotropic. Using the results, we analyzed the RTM process conditions of the bogie frame to predict skin void formation, mold filling time, and optimum location of vents depending on the permeability conditions.

• Composites Research
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.202-208
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• 2017

Resin transfer molding (RTM) is a mass production process that allows the fabrication of composites ranging in size from small to large. Recently, fast curing resins with a curing time of less than about 10 minutes have been used in the automotive and aerospace industries. The viscosity of resin is bound up with the degree of cure, and it can be changed rapidly in the fast-cure resin system during the mold filling process. Therefore, it is advantageous to experimentally measure and evaluate the degree of cure because it requires much effort to predict the flow characteristics and cure of the fast curing resin. DMA and dielectric technique are the typical methods to measure the degree of cure of composite materials. In this paper, the resin flow and degree of cure were measured through the multi-channel dielectric system. A total of 8 channels of dielectric sensors were used and resin flow and degree of cure were measured and compared with each other under various pressure conditions.

• Composites Research
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.372-377
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• 2015

In this study, we analyzed process numerically when a bogie frame skin is manufactured by applying resin transfer molding process using composite material instead of steel. Processing time was compared based on the various thickness of bogie frame skin and the weight variation of a skin was also considered. As a result, RTM processing time decreases and the weight of a bogie reduces as the thickness of frame skin increases with the assumption that fiber volume is constant inside the skin. By considering these results as the information to estimate the production cost, trade-off between two fields, processing time and structural properties, can be performed in design optimization to produce bogie frame.