Journal
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Volume 32, Issue 3, Pages 226-232Publisher
JOURNAL MATER SCI TECHNOL
DOI: 10.1016/j.jmst.2015.10.006
Keywords
Carbon fiber; Epoxy; Microwave curing; Compressive properties
Funding
- Innovation Funds of China-National Engineering and Research Center for Commercial Aircraft Manufacturing [SAMC12-JS-15-015]
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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 interfacial bonding between resin matrix and the fibers, which was also demonstrated via scanning electron microscopy analysis. Copyright (C) 2015, The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science & Technology. Published by Elsevier Limited. All rights reserved.
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