Manufacturing Fiberglass-Epoxy LSU-03 Aircraft Propeller Using Hand Lay-up and Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Moulding (VARTM) Methods

One of important aspect in designing a good quality product is on the method of how to manufacture it. In the world of aviation, products are required to meet several design criteria namely, strength, weight, and cost. Based on these design criteria, a study was carried out to manufacture LSU-03 propeller product sample using two manufacturing methods, i.e. hand lay-up and vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM). The objective is to design the manufacturing processes and to compare the quality of the propellers. The material used in this study are E-glass fiber cloth 135 and Epoxy "Lycal" resin. Prior to the propeller manufacturing process, several testing based on ASTM of manufactured composite plate was carried out to determine important parameters, i.e. thickness distribution, fiber volume fraction and voids content. A total of 3 propellers were manufactured. In order to determine the conformity of the product, propeller geometry is then measured and compared to the design mold. Finally, the comparison of the quality was made between the products of two methods. The quality of propeller products is measured based on calculated mass, thickness, void, fiber volume fraction, cost, surface quality and geometry conformity. It was concluded that VARTM is better than standard HLU and therefore more suitable for LSU-03 aircraft propeller production.