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Spatial and temporal control of the degree of cure in polymer composite structures
Author(s) -
Shull P. J.,
Hurley D. H.,
Spicer J. W. M.,
Spicer J. B.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
polymer engineering and science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.503
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1548-2634
pISSN - 0032-3888
DOI - 10.1002/pen.11243
Subject(s) - materials science , composite number , microwave , composite material , polymer , thermocouple , exothermic reaction , degradation (telecommunications) , work (physics) , mechanical engineering , computer science , telecommunications , chemistry , organic chemistry , engineering
This paper describes current efforts to apply spatially and temporally localized microwave processing techniques to ensure uniformity of material properties in polymer composite materials. In large polymer composite structures, high temperatures caused by exothermic resin cure can degrade the mechanical properties of the composite. In this work, resin cure temperature data was obtained during microwave processing from a series of thermocouples embedded at various lateral locations relative to the microwave source and uniformly through the thickness of the composite structure. Using this temperature information, the potential for localized microwave‐accelerated cure to reduce the occurrence of material degradation from resin over‐temperature was evaluated. In addition, a theoretical model is presented that helps elucidate the influence of the microwave parameters on the temperature profile.