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Anisothermal thermosetting resin cure monitored by optical fiber refractometer
Author(s) -
Robert Laurent,
Dusserre Gilles
Publication year - 2014
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.23596
Subject(s) - thermosetting polymer , materials science , refractometer , curing (chemistry) , isothermal process , fresnel equations , composite material , dielectric , refractive index , optoelectronics , thermodynamics , physics
The cure monitoring of composite parts is an important key to optimize the industrial curing cycles. In this study, it is proposed to monitor the cure of a thermosetting resin by a Fresnel refractometer. The measurements are first compared to dielectric analyses and predictions of a thermo‐kinetic model that uses parameters from the literature. Under isothermal conditions, the results show that the Fresnel power can be directly exploited to obtain qualitatively the degree of conversion. This is also demonstrated in anisothermal conditions by correcting the Fresnel signal from its temperature dependence. If the initial degree of conversion is known, its quantitative assessment is achieved using the Fresnel and temperature measurements. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 54:626–635, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers