Cost effective production, wich method?

General Composites Discussions Composites Talk
#1

Hey,

At the moment there is an option I have to produce about 150 of the same parts (simple panels, rounded surface, sharp edges, 1 inch deep, 2*2 foot)
Does anyone know of study’s/reports on wich method becomes cost effective on what point?
Both vacuum infusion and RTM-light we can do relatively easy in-house. We have most of the equipment an knowledge available, so setting those two up is no big investment.
The big advantage of RTM-light seems the setup time. No hassle with feed or vacuum lines, and the process is simpler (wich means i can get some people from other departments and interns to run a production quite easily :smiley: )

And what about re-usable vacuum bags in vacuum infusion. that’s quite a time saver too, anyone experience with that? I got an old quote for latex, wich would survive 50-100 cycles. I think most of those are just too stretchy, and costly in comparison to RTM-light.

(I’ve never had productions this big, quite a learning school…)
(and Herman, I know you’re reading, check your mail :wink: I’ll give you a ring when we actually going to need supply’s for infusion/rtml. Could you mail some info on those mould fasteners, I hate using nuts an bolt on splitmoulds…)

#2

Advantage of RTM:
Huge cutdown on seal time
Quite some cut down on fill time (but keep in mind that 1 machine can only fill 1 mould at a time, where bag infusion you can fill as many moulds in 1 go as you want)

Disadvantage:
RTM machine needed (and maintained)
RTM mould needed (building this is a specific job. Not difficult, you just need to know what goes where)

Bag infusion advantage:
low investment on tools

Bag infusion disadvantage:
seal time
infusion time

Also keep in mind that RTM light products usually are heavier.

Will talk to you later. Did not receive a mail yet, by the way.