Resin Curing Performance Analysis and Improvement of an Industrial Pultrusion Process

Resin Curing Performance Analysis and Improvement of an Industrial Pultrusion Process

Fiber Reinforced Polymers (FRP) are manufactured continuously using a technique called pultrusion, which yields homogenous composite parts. The material qualities and overall quality of the goods are greatly impacted by the manufacturing factors. It should be noted that thermoset resin systems are typically utilized as the pultruded fibre reinforced polymers' matrix. As a result, understanding the matrix's curing behaviour (polymerization) during the pultrusion process improves comprehension of potential for end-product development. Non-isothermal curing circumstances, such as pultrusion, have not yet been studied in spite of the research that is already available to establish the resin curing behaviour under isothermal conditions.
The link between the resin cure condition at constant draw speeds and the established die temperatures of 80 ◦C, 100 ◦C, 120 ◦C, and 140 ◦C is the main focus of the current work. To comprehend the resin system's thermal behaviour and to establish a temperature range for the pultrusion trials, lab-scale oven trials were carried out. During pultrusion testing, Dielectric Analysis (DEA) was employed to track how die temperature affected the cure process. The exothermic peak moves closer to the die entry as die temperature rises, according to the DEA data. Additionally, samples handled at 140 ◦C had a 97.7% degree of cure, compared to 86.2% for those cured at 100 ◦C. Understanding the impact of die temperature on cure progression is aided by the fact that both the rate of conversion and the degree of cure immediately correlate to the established die temperatures of the pultrusion trials. The material's mechanical and thermal properties were measured. The samples that were cured at 120 ◦C exhibited superior mechanical performance compared to those that were cured at 140 ◦C. This was attributed to the higher rate of conversion generating more internal stress. For pultruded composite sections, this work can serve as a reference to comprehend the cure behaviour of resin systems at different applied temperatures and the influence of die temperature conditions on mechanical and thermal properties.

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