Consolidation

Intermediate vacuum compaction of a partially completed prepreg stack, carried out periodically during lay-up to remove trapped air and seat the plies before further layers are added. Regular debulks reduce wrinkling, bridging and final void content, especially on curved tooling.

A consolidation technique in which a laminate is sealed under a flexible airtight film and the air is evacuated so that atmospheric pressure compacts the plies during cure. It removes trapped air and excess resin and is used with wet lay-up, prepreg and infusion processes.

The proportion of a cured laminate's volume occupied by trapped air or volatiles rather than fibre or resin. Elevated void content degrades interlaminar shear strength and fatigue performance, so it is controlled through debulking, vacuum and cure pressure and checked by testing or non-destructive inspection.

The proportion of a composite's volume occupied by fibre, a key measure of laminate quality and the main driver of stiffness and strength in the fibre direction. It is determined by methods such as resin burn-off, acid digestion or image analysis of polished sections.