Permeability-Porosity Relationship in RTM for Different Fiberglass and Natural Reinforcements

This study investigates the permeability-porosity relationship for glass and natural fiber mats. The estimation of the permeability-porosity relationship for glass mats is not new and has been investigated before by several authors, but in the present paper the same relationship was discovered for natural fibers. The experimental permeability values were fitted by the Carman-Kozeny equation with two fitting parameters: the Kozeny constant and the exponent of the porosity. The obtained permeability for the natural fiber mats shows higher values than glass fiber mat.