Sensitivity analysis of a process model for out-of-autoclave prepreg consolidation

Out-of-autoclave (OOA) prepregs are an attractive alternative to conventional autoclave materials in terms of costs, environmental impact and part size constraints. For their successful and widespread application, the void content has to be restricted to that of benchmark autoclave structures. Thus, a detailed understanding of the consolidation process is necessary to permit an optimal selection of processing parameters and compensate for the reduced consolidation pressure in vacuum-bag-only processing. Exact material parameters are in most cases not available. In this study, a stochastic evaluation of the initial degree of impregnation is therefore conducted. Furthermore, a model for OOA prepreg consolidation is used to analyze the effect of inherent material variations. Such a sensitivity study contributes to a complete understanding of OOA processing so that the risk of unserviceable quality of parts can be reduced to a minimum.