Prediction of the resin fillet size in honeycomb sandwich composites with self-adhesive prepreg skin

A facile and efficient method was developed to gain accurate prediction of the resin fillet size for self-adhesive prepreg skin to honeycomb core bonding in sandwich composites fabricated by co-curing process. The proposed method mainly contained numerical simulation of the fiber compaction and experimental measurement of the resin fillet. The influences of processing parameters, including pressure applying moment and processing pressure, on the resin fillet size were analyzed and discussed. Some other factors such as skin thickness and initial resin content of prepreg, which are difficult to be investigated using traditional test method, were also researched by means of this method. The obtained results were in good agreement with the experimental data, which indicated the accuracy of this method. These outcomes are greatly helpful to establish and optimize the processing parameters of co-cured honeycomb sandwich composite materials.