Study of mould design and forming process on advanced polymer-matrix composite complex structure

Advanced carbon fibre-reinforced polymer-matrix composites are widely applied to aviation manufacturing field due to their outstanding performance. In this paper, the mould design and forming process of the complex composite structure were discussed in detail using the hat stiffened structure as an example. The key issues of the moulddesign were analyzed, and the corresponding solutions were also presented. The crucial control points of the forming process such as the determination of materials and stacking sequence, the temperature and pressure route of the co-curing process were introduced. In order to guarantee the forming quality of the composite hat stiffened structure, a mathematical model about the aperture of rubber mandrel was introduced. The study presented in this paper may provide some actual references for the design and manufacture of the important complex composite structures. (paper)