Gao, Xiaoyu ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5625-3654 (2017) A multi-pattern compensation method to ensure even temperature in composite materials during microwave curing process. Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing. ISSN 1359-835X (doi:10.1016/j.compositesa.2017.12.17)

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Abstract

Microwave curing technologies have many advantages in manufacturing fiber reinforced polymer composite materials used in aerospace products, compared with traditional autoclave curing technologies. However, the uneven electromagnetic field of microwave in the cavity of the curing chamber results in uneven temperature on the surface of composite laminates during curing, which has been a major obstacle in industrial applications worldwide. Existing methods attempted to solve the problem by the random superposition of uneven electromagnetic fields, but the results were still not satisfactory to meet the high quality requirements of aerospace parts. This paper reveals the one-to-one correspondence between heating patterns of composite parts and microwave curing system settings, and reports a new concept to solve this problem by continuously monitoring and compensating the uneven temperature distribution in real-time. Experimental results from both fiber optical fluorescence sensors and infrared thermal imagers showed significant improvement in temperature uniformity compared with existing methods.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Polymer-matrix composites (PMCs); Process monitoring; Out of autoclave processing; Cure.
Subjects:	T Technology > TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Engineering & Science Faculty of Engineering & Science > Engineering Design in Practice Faculty of Engineering & Science > School of Engineering (ENG)
Last Modified:	18 Sep 2020 23:36
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/18388

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