Tutorial: Adding a Resin Material

Tutorial Level: Beginner Add a new Resin material to the Material Database.

Polymeric resins are broadly classified into thermoplastic and thermoset resins. A typical RTM process uses thermoset resin which requires curing of the resin after the infusion process. Inspire RTM support resin material models that can be used for thermoset resins and to some extent thermoplastic resins.

The complete list of data used is:

  • Density )
  • Thermal conductivity
  • Specsific heat
  • Viscosity Model
    • None
    • Carreau Yasuda
  • Temperature dependence
    • None (should be used with Newtonian)
    • Arrhenius
    • WLF
  • Curing Kinetics Model
    • None
    • Generalized curing kinetics model
    • Constant Rate curing kinetics model

Carreau—Yasuda Model

  • Infinite shear viscosity )
  • Zero shear viscosity)
  • Carreau Constant (use 1)
  • Time Constant )
  • Power-law index )
  • Transition parameter )

Temperature Dependence

Arrhenius Function

  • Temperature dependence
  • Activation energy
  • Universal gas constant

WLF Function

  • Temperature dependence
  • WLF Constant 1
  • WLF Constant 2
  • Reference Temperature

Curing Kinetics Model

Constant Rate Model

  • Gelation cure
  • Gelation time

Generalized Curing Kinetics Model

  • Nth order coefficient
  • Nth order exponent
  • Autocatalytic coefficient
  • Autocatalytic exponent 1
  • Autocatalytic exponent 2

Gelation Model

This is related to curing kinetics and describes how the viscosity increases wi

  • Gelation cure
  • Gelation viscosity constant C1
  • Gelation viscosity constant C2

Latent Heat

  • Latent heat of curing

Specify User Materials Folder

  1. On the File menu, click the Preferences button.
  2. Select Databases under Inspire Resin Transfer Molding, then enter a location for the user materials to be created.


    Note: When creating new materials, make sure you are in the User Materials database specified here. You may not have permission to create/edit materials in the system folder.

    Typically, you will be able to use this across multiple versions.

Create Resin Material Entry

  1. From the Resin Transfer Molding ribbon, click the Materials tool.
  2. Ensure that you are in the User Materials section and select the Resin folder then click to add a new material .


  3. Enter the following data to create the new material
    • Density = 1160 kg/m3
    • Viscosity = 0.20 Pa-s
    • Compressibility = 1.0e-09
    • (Thermal) Conductivity = 0.170
    • Specific heat = 1100
    • Cure model = Constant Curing Rate Model
    • Latent = 2100.0 J/kg
    • Gelation time = 1800 s
    • Gelation Cure = 0.70
    • Gelation Viscosity C1 = 1.50
    • Gelation Viscosity C2 = 1.20
    • Curing initiation time = 300 s (specified at the inlet)
    The gelation effect on viscosity is shown.




  4. Click OK to confirm.
You can now use this new user material in analyses.