Abstract
A NIR method was developed for the on-line monitoring of alkali-freecloth/phenolic resin prepreg during its manufacturing process. First, the sizing content ofthe alkali-free cloth was analyzed, and then the resin, soluble resin and volatiles content ofthe prepreg was analyzed simultaneously using the FT-NIR spectrometer. Partial leastsquare (PLS) regression was used to develop the calibration models, which for the sizingcontent was preprocessed by 1stDER MSC, for the volatile content by 1stDER VN, forthe soluble resin content by 1stDER MSC and for the resin content by the VN spectraldata preprocessing method. RMSEP of the prediction model for the sizing content was0.732 %, for the resin content it was 0.605, for the soluble resin content it was 0.101 andfor volatiles content it was 0.127. The results of the paired t-test revealed that there was nosignificant difference between the NIR method and the standard method. The NIRspectroscopy method could be used to predict the resin, soluble resin and the volatilescontent of the prepreg simultaneously, as well as sizing content of alkali-free cloth. Theprocessing parameters of the prepreg during manufacture could be adjusted quickly withthe help of the NIR analysis results. The results indicated that the NIR spectroscopymethod was sufficiently accurate and effective for the on-line monitoring of alkali-freecloth/phenolic resin prepreg.
Highlights
A prepreg is a semi-finished, machine-made product in which a reinforcement material has been impregnated with a pre-catalyzed resin [1]
It was successfully demonstrated that the NIR spectroscopy combined with the Partial least square (PLS) method was feasible for the quality control analysis of the alkali-free cloth/phenolic resin prepreg
The results presented in this study showed that the NIR system could analyze the sizing content, the resin content, the soluble resin content and the volatiles content
Summary
A prepreg is a semi-finished, machine-made product in which a reinforcement material has been impregnated with a pre-catalyzed resin [1]. It has been traditionally employed in the fabrication of high performance composites which could be used for aerospace components, high performance yachts, racing cars, sports equipments and so on [2,3,4]. In the manufacture of the prepreg, the high sizing content will induce insufficient resin impregnation, while controlling the sizing content of the alkali-free cloth is very important to the impregnation. A low volatiles content could cause aging of the prepreg, while a high resin content could make the resin outflow and be wasted
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