Title: Composite laminates cure cycle optimisation by meta-heuristic algorithms

Authors: Pierpaolo Carlone; Gaetano S. Palazzo

Addresses: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno, Via Ponte Don Melillo 1, 84084 Fisciano, Italy ' Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno, Via Ponte Don Melillo 1, 84084 Fisciano, Italy

Abstract: Thermoset polymeric matrix composites (PMC) are often subjected to thermal cure cycles to improve the mechanical properties of the final product. The cycle design, i.e., the definition of the temperature-time curve, is a crucial issue for a competitive production. This paper deals with the simulation-based meta-heuristic optimisation of the thermal cure cycle of thick composite laminates. Optimisation routines have been coupled with a finite element thermochemical model of the process. Two optimisation procedures have been implemented and tested. The former is a combination of the Downhill simplex method with the simulated annealing algorithm; the latter is a genetic algorithm. In both cases, some variations to the original algorithms have been introduced to improve the efficiency of the optimisation procedure in relation to the problem examined.

Keywords: cure process; finite element method; FEM; thermochemical modelling; metaheuristic optimisation; Nelder-Mead; simulated annealing; genetic algorithms; composite laminates; thermoset PMC; polymeric matrix composites; thermal cure cycles.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMPT.2013.056297

International Journal of Materials and Product Technology, 2013 Vol.46 No.2/3, pp.106 - 123

Received: 28 May 2012
Accepted: 04 Mar 2013

Published online: 21 Jun 2014 *

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