Investigation of cure in epoxy resins: Ultrasonic and thermally stimulated current measurements

Acoustic and thermally stimulated current measurements are reported as a function of cure for dicyanodiamide cured epoxy resins. It is found that the acoustic propagation is dominated by the generation of voids and does not directly reflect the extent of cure. In contrast, the thermally stimulated data correlate well with conductivity data, the amplitude of the space charge peak decreasing with increasing degree of cure and the dipole peak shifting to high temperatures as predicted from DSC data. Both methods exhibit potential as NDT methods for cure in resins.