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Polymers and Polymer Composites

OPTICAL TRANSPARENCY CHANGE METHOD FOR CURE MONITORING OF GFRPs

February 1, 2009 By: Akira Todoroki; Norihiko Hana Research article

Title: OPTICAL TRANSPARENCY CHANGE METHOD FOR CURE MONITORING OF GFRPs
Page Range: p.63-71
Author(s): Akira Todoroki; Norihiko Hana
File size: 261K
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Journal: Polymers and Polymer Composites
Issue Year: ppc
Volume: 17
Issue No: No.2

Abstract
The resin transfer molding(RTM) process is becoming popular for low-cost fabrication of complex commercial products made from GRP. As regards the RTM process for complex components, the optimal fabrication process is found by repeated trial and error. This process is time-consuming and one of the reasons for the high cost of composite products. To overcome this problem, it is useful to monitor the degree of cure of target GRP products. In this study, the luminance change method was used for cure monitoring of polyester-based GRP composites. Polyester resin usually changes its optical transparency during the curing process, which enabled the degree of cure to be monitored by measuring the luminance change of light or reflected light. A system that measured reflected light was developed. The sensing system employed a light-emitting diode as the light source and a photodiode as a light power sensor. This low-cost cure monitoring system was applied to the monitoring of the degree of cure in GRPs and was achieved using commercially-available dielectric sensors. Results were compared with the results of luminance change. The effectiveness of this method was confirmed experimentally. 10 refs.

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