Abstract: The quality of composite parts is largely depended on the cross-linking reaction of polymer matrix which is affected by the curing temperature. The manufacturing process of composites shows that the thermal resistance between the interface of the dies and the products of composites and the auxiliary materials is assignable, which affects the temperature distribution of composites. There is an improved element model which defines a variable thermal contact conductance parameter between the contact surfaces, which can help to better investigate the effect of thermal resistance on composite parts curing. The numerical analysis and experimental results show that, compared with the traditional model, the new model brings more accuracy prediction with the same computing resource.

Key words: composite, degree of cure, numerical simulation, thermal contact resistance