Evaluation of cure shrinkage measurement techniques for thermosetting resins

Shah, Darshil U.; Schubel, Peter J.

Abstract

Resin chemical shrinkage dictates the surface integrity and the roughness of a composite structure. Thus, to minimize surface failures and to produce a good surface quality it is a requisite to be able to measure and track resin shrinkage during the cure process. This manuscript investigates and evaluates the measuring and monitoring of real-time resin shrinkage using a rheometer, a helium-based pycnometer and a thermo-mechanical analyzer (TMA) for ambient curing UP and epoxy resins. Shrinkage readings obtained from the newly developed robust technique with the rheometer concur well with readings from the traditional pycnometric method. They also coincide within the accepted literature values of 7–10% and 3.5–4.5% for the UP and epoxy systems, respectively. Shrinkage measurements during post-cure were effectively carried out at an elevated temperature, suggesting that the methodology provided can be applied to non-ambient curing systems. The TMA was found to be unsuccessful in measuring shrinkage reliably.

Citation

Shah, D. U., & Schubel, P. J. (2010). Evaluation of cure shrinkage measurement techniques for thermosetting resins. Polymer Testing, 29(6), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymertesting.2010.05.001

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2010
• Deposit Date: Jun 14, 2013
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 14, 2013
• Journal: Polymer Testing
• Print ISSN: 0142-9418
• Electronic ISSN: 1873-2348
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 29
• Issue: 6
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymertesting.2010.05.001
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1013132
• Publisher URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0142941810000711
• Additional Information: NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Polymer Testing. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Polymer Testing, 29(6), 2010, doi: 10.1016/j.polymertesting.2010.05.001