The Effect of Post-Cure Process on The Thermo-Mechanical Behavior ofHybrid Carbon/Glass/Epoxy Laminated Composites

This paper examined the influence of post-cure process on the mechanical and physical properties of a hybrid carbon/glass/epoxy laminated composite. Post-cure process is currently a very popular restorative technique for the purposes of increasing material cure, and thus enhancing properties of composite materials. To this end, hand fabricated composites cured in room temperature and then subjected to immediate post-cure process (100oC for 4 hours). The specimen then was allowed to cool to the room temperature naturally. Finally, tensile tests and thermo-mechanical analysis were carried out to measuring the thermo-mechanical properties of specimens. Compared with the prior composites,the results showed that post-curing process increase the young’s modulus and strength of composites. It is also found that post-curing process slightly increase glass transition temperature and has a negligible effects on coefficients of thermal expansion of composites. Therefore, the post-cure temperature and duration is an effective way of increasing in mechanical properties and reducing the destructive effectsof residual stresses in laminated composites.

Keywords:

Laminated composite , Post curing , Young’s modulus , Coefficient of thermal expansion