Effect of cure on fracture properties of a composite: Part 3

The motivation to achieve a ‘proper cure’ seems obvious/intuitive but what really happens if we don’t cure a thermoset composite properly? How does the degree of cure affect the fracture properties of the material? How does the degree of cure affect the material’s ability to stand up to ‘hot’ conditions and/or ‘wet’ conditions?

In the third part of this series, we will extend what was done in the first two parts to look at how the fracture properties are affected by an under cure, moisture, and elevated temperatures.

In the first two parts of this series, we discussed thermal management of the curing process and identified potential situations where a composite may be under-cured or thermally degraded (exposed to excessive temperature during cure). We looked at the results of mechanical tests including tensile, compression, in-plane shear (Iosipescu), and short-beam shear (interlaminar shear strength) on specimens that have been significantly under cured, moderately under-cured, cured according to the manufacturer’s recommended cure cycle, and thermally degraded, as well as under ambient, wet, and hot-wet conditions. A recording of these webinars can be accessed here: https://compositeskn.org/KPC/A319 and https://compositeskn.org/KPC/A320

This work was done in collaboration with ZwickRoell and the Technical University of Munich under the supervision of Dr. Hannes Körber, Global Industry Manager Composites, ZwickRoell.

Presenter: Dr. Casey Keulen, University of British Columbia

A recording of this webinar will be available at https://compositeskn.org/KPC/A418 after the event.