Abstract
Microwave curing technology, which has seen increased commercialization recently due to its ability to cut the curing time and ensure high quality, requires an understanding of the curing characteristics of composite materials of varying thickness. Therefore, this study aimed to perform cure monitoring to evaluate the effects of variations in thickness on the quality of microwave curing. For this study, a fiber Bragg grating sensor was used to measure temperature changes in specimens during the curing cycle for cure monitoring which is generally used for optimization of the curing cycle; then, the time taken for temperature increase and overshoot of the specimen, and the times at which the specimen thickness varied, were quantitatively evaluated. Testing confirmed that microwave curing reduced the curing time in the sections in which the temperature rose; also, the specimen thickness caused overshoot of up to approximately 40 °C at the side, which can affect the curing quality of the composite materials. Furthermore, voids were observed on the side of all specimens. The results indicated that, in order to improve the quality of microwave curing of composite materials, the curing cycle should be optimized by considering the characteristics of the microwave curing equipment.
Highlights
Due to their high specific strength and specific stiffness, carbon fiber reinforced composite materials have attracted much research attention as substitutes for metallic materials in diverse areas, such as the aerospace [1,2], machinery, automobile, and railway industries [3,4]
Due to the high manufacturing cost and power consumption occasioned by their long curing time, conventional curing methods for high-quality composite materials, such as the autoclave method, have been applied only in limited areas such as the aerospace and defense industries
Other curing methods can reduce the manufacturing cost and power consumption by shortening the curing time, they result in lower quality, and are mostly applied to products for which high quality is not a prime consideration
Summary
Due to their high specific strength and specific stiffness, carbon fiber reinforced composite materials have attracted much research attention as substitutes for metallic materials in diverse areas, such as the aerospace [1,2], machinery, automobile, and railway industries [3,4]. The use of such materials is quickly expanding to other areas, including household items such as carrier cases, which need to be lightweight. The microwave curing method cures composite materials by using microwaves to Materials 2020, 13, 1720; doi:10.3390/ma13071720 www.mdpi.com/journal/materials
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