LRTM Carbon Fiber Molding Example

RTM Light Carbon Fiber Molding Example using both fiberglass and carbon fiber reinforcements. When using carbon fiber in a closed mold having a fixed cavity crossection thickness, the “over laps” of the carbon fiber as required to allow the carbon to fit to the shape of the mold, would need to be accounted for in the mold cavity thickness. Alternatively, the over laps must be “butt jointed” with the over laps positioned in such a way that each layer covers the lower layer over lap. The LRTM and RTM process are both capable of 100% carbon fiber moldings in which either the cavity has been calibrated to have additional thickness in the over lap areas which then need to be located by precisely repeating the over lap location with each part fiber loading. Or to use the butt joint method listed above. To offer a bit of process freedom and to still gain the “look” of real carbon on the part surface, the combination of carbon and fiberglass can be used. The process shown in the attached video provides insight to the use of the loading of carbon to achieve the wrinkle free application on the part surface, then by using fiberglass on the backside of the carbon, the fiberglass having “loft” takes the differences in areas of the carbon fiber over laps and the nominal areas so as to “fill” the mold crossection with fiber which is the critical factor in controlling the resin flow path during the injection process.