The main issue of interest is to understand the formation of micro voids during the filling process and to develop strategies for their removal. An example of such a strategy is pressure rise during the flushing phase of the process. The group at AMS involved in RTM modeling consists of Wing Chui, James Glimm , Yu Song, and F. Tangerman . The RTM Process. The resulting light weight, high strength parts are attractive for many applications.
Examples are consumer items such as chairs, automobile parts and aircraft components.
RTM is of particular interest to the aerospace industry since it promises cost savings and performance improvements over traditional hand lay-up methods. In the RTM process, dry fiber reinforcement, or fiber preform, is packed into a mold cavity which has the shape of the desired part. The mold is then closed and resin is injected under pressure into the mold where it impregnates the preform. After the fill cycle, the cure cycle begins, during which the mold is heated and resin polymerizes to become rigid plastic. A major issue in this new manufacturing process is the elimination of void spaces in the resin fill operation, so that products with high quality are manufactured.