Curing Characteristics of Unsaturated Polyester/aramid Reinforced Composite: Microwave vs. Thermal Energy

Abstract

Proses permatangan yang biasa digunakan untuk menghasilkan komposit termoset ialah dengan kaedah terma. Terdapat banyak kelemahan untuk kaedah ini, termasuklah kitaran masa permatangan yang panjang. Kertaskerja ini melaporkan alternatif lain bagi proses permatangan komposit poliester tak tepu/aramid iaitu dengan menggunakan tenaga gelombang mikro. Perbezaan ciri permatangan bagi komposit yang dihasilkan melalui kaedah oven gelombang mikro dan oven lazim telah dibandingkan. Analisis kalorimetri pengimbas pembezaan (DSC) menunjukkan bahwa permatangan komposit dengan kaedah gelombang mikro adalah lebih cepat berbanding dengan kaedah terma. Analisis Spektroskopi inframerah transformasi Fourier (FTIR) pula menunjukkan keberkesanan alat ini membandingkan pertukaran poliester C=C dan stirena C=C yang menjalani permatangan gelombang mikro dan terma. Kata kunci: Permatangan gelombang mikro; komposit poliester tak tepu/aramid; Resin pengacuan pindah (RTM); Kalorimetri pengimbas pembezaan (DSC); Spektroskopi inframerah tranformasi Fourier (FTIR) Conventional curing processes for producing thermoset composites use a thermal approach, which suffers from numerous disadvantages, including a long curing cycle time. This paper reports on an alternative curing process of an unsaturated polyester/aramid composite using microwave energy. The differences in curing characteristic of the composites fabricated between microwave and conventional ovens method were compared. Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) analysis showed that microwave curing of composite was much faster than thermal curing while Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis was found to be very much significant in comparing the conversion of polyester C=C and styrene C=C undergoing microwave and thermal curing. Key words: Microwave curing, unsaturated polyester/aramid composite; Resin Transfer Moulding (RTM); Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC); Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)