Pressure dependent modeling of thermoet epoxy-resins for the appllication in carbon composites

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Axel Herrmann
• Subject Area: Plastics Engineering ; Thermodynamics and Kinetics as well as Properties of Phases and Microstructure of Materials
• Term: from 2016 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 317456845

The objective of this proposal is the investigation of pressureinfluence on the curing behaviour of epoxy-resins as well as on theproperties and process-induced distortions of the final composite part.This shall be achieved by a free-volume dependent material modellingof the material properties and the consideration of pressure influenceon free volume. Thereby a strong coupling between the pressureacting on the resin and its thermo-chemical properties is achieved.This will answer the underlying research question: Can the effect ofpressure on the curing behaviour of epoxy resins be explained by freevolume theory? An application for the developed theory is thesimulation of the high pressure RTM process, a variant of the RTMprocess using higher process pressures of up to 200 bar. The highpressure allows a reduction of process cycle times, but with this highpressures the pressure influence on material properties can no longerbe neglected and have to be modelled in order to perform processsimulations. Investigations will be done on an exemplary material, theVERAFORCE 5200 resin system by Dow, which is a fast curing epoxyresin specifically developed for high pressure RTM. The findingsabout the behaviour of epoxy-resins under high pressures and themodelling of the cure behaviour will be transferable to other materials.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants