The Effect of Mandrel Configuration on the Warpage in Pultrusion of Rectangular Hollow Profiles

Thermo-mechanical process simulation of an industrially pultruded rectangular hollow profile is presented. Glass/polyester is used for the continuous filament mat (CFM) and the uni-directional (UD) layers. The process induced residual distortions together with the temperature and degree of cure are predicted using a three dimensional (3D) thermo-chemical model sequentially coupled with a 2D quasi-static generalized plane strain mechanical model. The predicted deformation pattern at the end of the process is found to agree quite well with the one observed for the real pultruded parts in a commercial pultrusion company. In addition, the predicted warpage behaviour is further analysed by adjusting the mandrel length as well as including the mandrel heating. Using the proposed process model, the effect of the mandrel configurations on the quality of the pultrusion is investigated in terms of temperature, degree of cure and distortions.These unwanted residual distortions may lead to not meeting the desired geometrical tolerances e.g. warpage of pultruded window frames and hollow profiles as well as spring-in of L-shaped profiles, etc