Porosity and Residual Strain Analysis of CFRP Laminates Under a Novel Vibration‐Microwave Curing Process

ABSTRACT CFRPs are commonly employed in aerospace, automotive, and diverse industries due to their exceptional specific strength and corrosion tolerance. Nevertheless, the traditional autoclave curing process suffers from problems such as temperature control hysteresis and long curing times. To overcome these limitations, this study presents a novel vibration‐microwave synergistic curing process and its matching experimental platform. The void morphology and porosity of the samples were analyzed using an extended depth‐of‐field 3D microscope, while strain data during the curing process were recorded with the temperature measuring fiber and fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors. A comparative analysis was carried out between this new process and the conventional autoclave curing method. The experimental results show that the porosity of the composites produced by this method (0.21%) is comparable to that of composites cured by the autoclave method (0.19%). Moreover, the synergistic effect of microwave volumetric heating and vibration‐enhanced resin flow reduced the residual strain of the composites by 8.28% in the 0° direction and by 10.56% in the 90° direction. These findings not only confirm the effectiveness of the vibration‐microwave synergistic curing process as an alternative to the traditional autoclave curing method but also mark a significant breakthrough in composite manufacturing technology.