A comparison of radiation and thermal curing of thick composites

This work aimed to compare three different techniques to cure thick composite matrices to see the effect of the process on the network and the thermo-mechanical properties of the polymer matrix. Two different thermoset resins, one acrylate and one methacrylate, have been free-radically cured with high-energy electron beam (EB), ultra-violet light (UV) or heat (thermal). The differences in curing mechanisms as well as the thermo-mechanical properties of the cured resins have been investigated. For this type of resins, EB-cured samples showed the highest thermo-mechanical properties and the lowest residual unsaturation. Thermally cured resins showed similar properties, but with drawbacks such as long curing cycles and thermal degradation in the matrix. The cure did not proceed to the same extent in the UV-cured samples. But the simplicity of the curing equipment makes UV-curing an interesting complement to thermal or EB-curing.