Electron-beam curing of thick thermoset composites: Effect of temperature and fiber

Electron-beam curing of thermoset resins used in fiber-reinforced composites has been investigated. Two resins, a bisphenol-A acrylate and methacrylate, were used as model systems. The temperature was monitored during cure to know the thermal history of the composite during cure. The thermo-mechanical properties were measured on the cured samples. It could be seen that all these values were influenced by the nature (glass or carbon) and amount (0–50 wt.-%) of fiber. A linear correlation was found between the maximum temperature during cure and the glass transition temperature. It was shown that it is possible to compensate for a lack of heat during cure in systems with too low exotherms. Some influence on the network homogeneity was also noticed when the thermal energy available during cure was too low.