In-situ Curing Strain Monitoring of a Flat Plate Residual Stress Specimen Using a Chopped Stand Mat Glass/Epoxy Composite as Test Material

Abstract

The curing stresses in a newly proposed bi-axial residual stress testing configuration are studied using a chopped strand mat glass/epoxy specimen. In-situ monitoring of the curing is conducted using dielectric and fibre Bragg grating sensors. It is confirmed that a bi-axial residual stress state can be introduced in the specimens during curing and a quantification of its magnitude is presented. An alternative decomposition method used for converting the dielectric signal into a material state variable is proposed and good agreement with models found in the literature is obtained. From the cure cycles chosen it is suggested that any stress build up in the un-vitrified state is relaxed immediately and only stress build up in the vitrified state contributes to the residual stress state in the specimen.