Design of a pultrusion die using a design optimization technique

The objective of this study is to design a pultrusion die with a desired temperature profile. Design optimization programs were developed to synthesize the number of cartridge heaters, power input and location of each cartridge heater for a laboratory-scale pultrusion die. This is the first step in developing a pultrusion control process. Before this can be done, a thorough understanding of the pultrusion process is required. The parameters investigated are fiber-resin mixture, degree of curing, production temperature profile and pulling speed. It was found that these parameters are interrelated.