Comparison of the mechanical and physical properties of a carbon fibre epoxy composite manufactured by resin transfer moulding using conventional and microwave heating
Papargyris, D A, Day, Richard, Nesbitt, A and Bakavos, D (2008) Comparison of the mechanical and physical properties of a carbon fibre epoxy composite manufactured by resin transfer moulding using conventional and microwave heating.
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Abstract
Microwave processing holds great potential for improving current composite manufacturing techniques, substantially reducing cure cycle times, energy requirements and operational costs. In this paper, microwave heating was incorporated into the resin transfer moulding technique. Through the use of microwave heating, a 50% cure cycle time reduction was achieved. The mechanical and physical properties of the produced carbon fibre/epoxy composites were compared to those manufactured by conventional resin transfer moulding. Mechanical testing showed similar values of flexural moduli and flexural strength for the two types of composites after normalisation of the corresponding data to a common fibre volume fraction. A 9% increase of the interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) was observed for the microwave cured composites. This enhancement in ILSS is attributed to a lowering of resin viscosity in the initial stage of the curing process, which was also confirmed via scanning electron microscopy by means of improved fibre wetting and less fibre pull-out. Furthermore, both types of composites yielded minimal void content (
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Additional Information: | Copyright © 2008 Elsevier. All rights reserved. This is the author's final version of the work after peer review. The article was originally published in Composites Science and Technology in 2008 by Elsevier. The full published article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compscitech.2008.01.010. This is a link to the publisher's website http://www.sciencedirect.co/ |
| Keywords: | Microwave curing, E. Resin transfer moulding, A. Polymer matrix composites, B. Interfacial strength, B. Mechanical properties |
| Divisions: | ?? GlyndwrUniversity ?? |
| Depositing User: | ULCC Admin |
| Date Deposited: | 05 Oct 2011 09:13 |
| Last Modified: | 11 Dec 2017 20:06 |
| URI: | https://wrexham.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/162 |
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