Abstract: This paper conducts research and development on a fan impeller products made of glass fiber reinforced polymer matrix composite by Sheet molding compound (SMC) for weight reduction and operating performance improvement of the fan impeller products of locomotives. By testing the paving method and technological parameters of the impeller, the SMC material impeller has been successfully developed to meet the requirement of the locomotive ventilator. The research is focused on effects of charging pattern, compression molding pressure, compression molding temperature, pressing speed and pressing time of the SMC material on the quality of impeller products. Experimental results show that the distributed paving method is better than the concentrated paving method to obtain high quality products, and the pressing parameters were determined as the temperature of top and bottom mold are 140 ℃ and 145 ℃, respectively, and molding pressure is 8 MPa for 40 min and pressing speed is less than 20 mm/s.

Key words: SMC, compression molding, impeller, charging, pressing parameters