ASSESSMENT OF RESIDUAL-STRESSES DURING CURE AND COOLING OF EPOXY-RESINS

A new stress monitoring technique, a stress-tracking device, is descri bed here. It has been used to study some important properties of epoxy resin. Residual stresses, including a curing shrinkage stress and a c ooling shrinkage stress, were measured automatically and continuously during curing and cooling. Simultaneously, information such as an appa rent gelation time and glass transition temperature were obtained dire ctly during the experiment. These epoxy resin properties were related to the extent of cure. Varying cure temperature produced changes of cu re behavior, which resulted in different residual stresses.