Influence of resin viscosity and vacuum level on mechanical performance of sandwich structures manufactured by vacuum bagging

The choice of process parameters is critical in optimizing the mechanical properties of sandwich structures produced using the vacuum bagging technique. The aim of this paper is to analyze how the viscosity of the resin/curing agent system and the vacuum level influence the morphology and the mechanical behavior of sandwich beams with composite faces (epoxy resin and glass fiber fabric named COMBI 900) and a PVC foam core. Four different sandwich structures were produced by varying the viscosity of the epoxy resin/curing agent at constant maximum vacuum pressure. Three further structures were manufactured by varying the strength of the vacuum with the resin viscosity maintained constant at the minimum level. Three point bending tests were carried out on all seven sandwiches. The analysis shows that although both parameters affect the mechanical characteristics of the structure, the viscosity of the resin system is clearly the more influential of the two. The morphological structure of the sandwiches was analyzed both by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and by muffle furnace ignition to calculate the percentage of fibers, matrices, and voids present in the different samples