PROCESS OPTIMIZATION USING CUCKOO SEARCH ALGORITHM FOR THE MANUFACTURING OF RESIN TRANSFER MOULDED COMPOSITE PARTS

An in-house coded cuckoo search (CS) optimization algorithm integrated with a finite element simulation model was developed for resin transfer moulding (RTM) process optimization. At first, the mould filling and curing phases, the vital stages of the RTM process were modelled in the COMSOL multi-physics simulator for RTM6 resin - carbon fibre reinforced composite part. Then, the model was imported to the CS optimization algorithm scripted in MATLAB using the COMSOL live link for MATLAB. The CS algorithm was developed for the minimization of dry spot content by finding the optimal positions of gates and vents during the mould-filling stage and the minimization of the thermal gradient by finding the optimal mould temperature during the curing stage. From the optimization results, there was a decrease in dry spot content and thermal gradient with an increase in generations. With the generations, converged-stable-optimal solutions were obtained. A dry spot content of 3% for one gate and one vent and 0.56% for two gates and one vent was obtained for two-dimensional and three-dimensional composite plates, respectively. From the curing phase optimization results, a minimum thermal gradient of 0.86 K with 98.1% degree of cure was obtained for the optimal mould temperature of 433 K. The developed CS algorithm predicted the better-automated mould-fill and cure phase optimal solutions for the studied composite part.