Abstract
Polymer composites by and large found suitable for many specific applications in the field of electrical, electronics, marine, aerospace and microelectronics. Thus a new technique for processing polymer composites has been explored and one such is microwave curing. The roles of microwave in the post curing of polymer matrix composites cannot be under estimated, as it has the capacity to reduce the undue lengthy cure cycle and also improve the mechanical properties of the composite produced. The aim of the study is to determine the effect of microwave post curing on the cure cycles of the unsaturated polyester composites reinforced with aluminum and carbon black. This effect was compared with that post cured using conventional oven with the objective of investigating the significance of microwave curing on the curing time of the produced composites. A specific study comprising of aluminum filled polyester based composite and carbon black filled polyester based composite were investigated using two different composite curing methods (microwave and conventional autoclave heating). The investigation, through experimentation was based on temperature profile in term of heating rate and cure characteristics in term of degree of cure of the produced composites. Comparing the results of the post-curing of the composites using microwave and conventional methods, 30% aluminum filled cured at 940C, 20% aluminum filled cure 920C, while 10% aluminum filled cured at 840C. Also, it took 20 minutes and 15 minutes for aluminium filled polyester and carbon black filled polyester composites respectively to reach ultimate cure in microwave system as compared to conventional autoclave system that takes the composite samples 290 minutes and 170 minutes respectively to get to the ultimate cure. It was concluded that post-curing of the particulate composites through microwave is able to achieve good heating rate and better control of temperature as compared to the conventional autoclave curing.
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