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In‐situ cure monitoring of diamine cured epoxy by fiberoptic fluorimetry using extrinsic reactive fluorophore
Author(s) -
Dang Wenbin,
Sung NakHo
Publication year - 1994
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.760340903
Subject(s) - diglycidyl ether , epoxy , diamine , materials science , fluorescence , fluorophore , analytical chemistry (journal) , bisphenol a , polymer chemistry , composite material , optics , chemistry , chromatography , physics
This paper describes the application of a molecular sensor for in ‐ situ monitoring of epoxy‐diamine cure via remote sensing fiberoptic probes. A custom‐built, fiberoptic fluorimeter allows on‐line recording of fluorescence spectra directly from the cure environment. Cure reactions in epoxy‐diamine network, such as diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A‐diaminodiphenyl sulfone (DGEBA‐DDS) or diglycidyl ether of butanediol‐diaminodiphenyl sulfone (DGEB‐DDS), have been monitored by a reactive molecular sensor, diamino azobenzene (DAA). DAA exhibits sensitive changes in UV‐visible and fluorescence spectra due to the conversion of its primary amine groups to secondary and tertiary amine groups. Fluorescence intensities are correlated with extent of reaction in epoxy network and processing parameters, such as cure temperatures and time. The use of an internal reference dye for normalization of fluorescence intensities is necessary for the quantitative correlation of spectral signals with the network structure. Variables affecting the fluorescence intensity such as excitation volume, probe location, excitation intensity fluctuation, temperature, and background intensities from optical fiber can be calibrated by normalizing the signal intensities against the internal reference. Sulforhodamine 101 was found to be a satisfactory reference dye which provides stable, readable signals over temperatures up to 200°C.