Modeling the interply slip during forming of thermoplastic laminates

Interply slip plays an important role in composite forming processes, the resulting product geometry, final fiber orientations and fiber stresses. This interply slip will depend on fiber/resin properties, the fibers distribution, the reinforcement architecture and the process conditions. In this paper, a new model, based on Reynolds equation for thin film lubrication, was developed to predict the frictional behavior of these materials. This approach should be validated by means of experiments.