## 1 Introduction  
Currently, there is a paradigm shift in the lightweight structural application such as aerospace [1], automobile [2, 3], maritime [4] and construction industries [5, 6], where the use of traditional metallic structures are being substituted by advanced composites structures. The use of fiber-reinforced composites (FRC) is proliferating due to their preeminent specific mechanical properties [7, 8, 9, 10], design flexibility [11], and fatigue life enhancement [12]. Additionally, the demand for FRC in these industries, especially aircraft and maritime, is growing expeditiously with anticipated demands to increase extensively in the next decade. However, composite manufacturing processes are relatively time-consuming and costly. It poses challenges to meet the rising composite demands which certainly requires innovative and robust production techniques. Composites for industrial/mass production applications are typically produced by autoclave process under elevated temperature and pressure [13]. In this method, fully saturated prepreg plies with resin are placed on a tool/mold, the setup is enveloped inside a plastic bag. This setup is vacuumed using a vacuum pump and it is then placed inside a pressurized autoclave vessel. The application of elevated pressure and temperature in autoclave processing safeguards nominal void content and first-rate shape conformation [14; 15]. However, major drawbacks of the autoclave manufacturing process include the high costs associated with equipment procurement, maintenance and operation, costly nitrogen gas required for pressurizing autoclave vessel, and lengthy cure cycles [16; 17; 18]. The capacity of autoclaves limits the size and design of parts, and the production rate is primarily affected by autoclave availability [19; 20]. The industries are seeking more economical and robust out-of-autoclave (OOA) composite manufacturing techniques as it will be very challenging to meet the growing demand. OOA prepreg processing plays a crucial role to substitute the metallic structures with a lighter and stronger composite structure to meet the needed production rates. Shifting from autoclave to OOA process will allow a more economical, less time-consuming manufacturing process with increased part size flexibility. The autoclave process uses a high pressure to minimize manufacturing-induced defects, while OOA methods only involve a pressure differential of 1 atm maximum, which makes it vulnerable to certain manufacturing-induced defects. Thus, a sound scientific understanding of low-pressure processing methods is required for successful implementation. Several researchers have addressed the issue of low-pressure application in OOA by proposing alternative methods to generate sufficient consolidation pressure. Some of the noteworthy techniques are the use of high-power permanent magnets [21; 22] and hot press molds [23]. Among these techniques, magnet assisted composite manufacturing (MACM) is an impressive option with less costs associated with acquisition, tooling and maintenance when compared to hot press molding. However, the major drawback of MACM is that the compression pressure degrades exponentially with the increase in layup thickness which makes this process vulnerable to thicker laminates [22]. Conventionally, a two-step ramp and dwell temperature and pressure profiles, usually referred to as manufacturer's recommended cure cycle (MRCC), are recommended by the prepreg suppliers. The low-temperature dwell of a typical cure cycle, also known as B-stage or T\({}_{\text{B}}\), permits the depletion of volatiles and impregnation of resin into dry tows, whereas, the high-temperature dwell, also referred to as C-stage or T\({}_{C}\), allows the resin cross-linking and consolidation into a solid final product [24]. The mechanical properties for commercially available prepregs could be further improved by taking induced residual stress/strain into consideration during curing [25; 26; 27]. [PERSON] et al.