Experimental and numerical study on the effect of rubber mold configuration on the compaction of composite angle laminates during autoclave processing

Rubber molds are used to intensify and uniformly redistribute the pressure on the angle-bended composite laminates during autoclave processing. However, the optimization of flexible tool is difficult and time-consuming. In this paper, experiments were performed to study the effect of different configurations of male rubber mold on the thickness distribution of L-shaped laminates processed on metal female tool in autoclave processing. Based on numerical analysis, we compared the compaction forces transferred on the prepreg stacks with different male rubber molds. Furthermore, a flexible mold was modified based on the simulated data. The results indicate that the stiffness of male tool significantly influences the degree of corner thickening and pressure distribution on the laminates. Moreover, the corner and flat regions require different stiffness of the corresponding regions of male tool to ensure uniform compaction, and the laminates with uniform thickness were obtained using the modified flexible molds.