INFLUENCE OF THERMAL AND MICROWAVE PROCESSING ON THE MECHANICAL AND INTERFACIAL PROPERTIES OF A GLASS EPOXY COMPOSITE

The influence of two curing methods, namely thermal and electromagneti c radiation (microwave) curing, on the mechanical properties of a glas s fibre/epoxy model composite has been studied. The advantage of micro wave processing is that it leads to significantly faster curing times compared to thermal processing. The influence of processing technique on the mechanical and interfacial properties was determined. The inter facial properties considered include the interfacial shear (bond) stre ngth tau(i), the matrix shrinkage pressure on the fibre P-0, the inter facial coefficient of friction mu and the interfacial frictional shear stress tau(f). The interfacial properties were determined from analys is of experimental data from pull-out tests. Based on these results, t he effect of thermal and microwave processing on the mechanical proper ties of the glass fibre/epoxy composite system was elucidated.