Experimental investigation of vibration pretreatment-microwave curing process for carbon fiber reinforced resin matrix composites

The vibration pretreatment-microwave curing process is an efficient,low energy consumption,and high-quality out-of-autoclave curing process for carbon fiber resin matrix composites.This study aims to investigate the impact of vibration pretreatment temperature on the fiber weight content,microscopic morphology and mechanical properties of the composite laminates by using optical digital microscopy,universal tensile testing machine and thermo-gravimetric analyzer.Additionally,the combined mode of Bragg fiber grating sensor and temperature measurement fiber was employed to explore the effect of vibration pretreatment on the strain process during microwave curing.The study results revealed that the change in vibration pretreatment temperature had a slight impact on the fiber weight content when the vibration acceleration remained constant.The metallographic and interlaminar strength of the specimen formed at a vibration pretreatment temperature of 80℃ demonstrated a porosity of 0.414% and a 10.69% decrease in interlaminar shear strength compared to autoclave curing.Moreover,the introduction of the vibration energy field during the microwave curing process led to a significant reduction in residual strain in both the 0°and 90°fiber directions,when the laminate was cooled to 60℃.

COMPARISON OF THE E44 EPOXY RESINS IN DIFFERENT CONTENTS OF CURING AGENT BY MICROWAVE AND THERMAL CURING METHODS

This paper discusses the fundamental principle of microwave heating, and based on the advantages of microwave heating, use maleic anhydride as curing agent. The technology of microwave curing E44 epoxy resins is investigated, the mechanical properties of cured epoxy resin samples in different contents of curing agent by microwave and thermal curing methods are measured respectively, and then some experimental results for which are obtained. At last, this paper analyses why microwave curing can improve mechanical property of epoxy resin.

Improvement of the Compressive Strength of Carbon Fiber/Epoxy Composites via Microwave Curing

Microwave processing was used to cure the carbon fiber/epoxy composites and designed for improving the compressive strength of the materials. By controlling the power of microwave heating, vacuum bagged laminates were fabricated under one atmosphere pressure without arcing. The physical and mechanical properties of composites produced through vacuum bagging using microwave and thermal curing were compared and the multistep （2-step or 3-step） microwave curing process for improved compressive properties was established. The results indicated that microwave cured samples had somewhat differentiated molecular structure and showed slightly higher glass transition temperature. The 2-step process was found to be more conducive to the enhancement of the compressive strength than the 3-step process. A 39% cure cycle time reduction and a 22% compressive strength increment were achieved for the composites manufactured with microwave radiation. The improvement in specific compressive strength was attributed to better interracial bonding between resin matrix and the fibers, which was also demonstrated via scanning electron microscopy analysis.