Florentin Berthet

Optimization of the Incident IR Heat Flux upon a 3D Geometry Composite Part (Carbon/Epoxy)

The main purpose of this study is to cure a 3D geometry composite part (carbon fiber reinforced epoxy matrix) using an infrared oven. The work consists of two parts. In the first part, a FE thermal model was developed, for the prediction of the infrared incident heat flux on the top surface of the composite during the curing process. This model was validated using a reference solution based on ray tracing algorithms developed in Matlab®. Through the FE thermal model, an optimization study on the percentage power of each infrared heater is performed in order to optimize the incident IR heat flux uniformity on the composite. This optimization is performed using the Matlab® optimization algorithms based on Sequential Quadratic Programming and dynamically linked with the FE software COMSOL Multiphysics®. In a second part, the optimized parameters set is used in a model developed for the thermo-kinetic simulations of the composite IR curing process and the predictions of the degree of cure and temperature distribution in the composite part during the curing process.