A brief review of the potential for microwave heating in the manufacture of fiberreinforced composites is presented, with particular emphasis on the Microwave Assisted Pultrusion (MAP). Manufacture of a 6 mm cylindrical glass reinforced profile, based on a number of latent-cure epoxy resins by MAP is described. These materials combine room temperature stability (long pot life) with rapid crosslinking at elevated temperature. The measured line speeds exceeded 2 m/min, using approximately 800 W of applied microwave power in a single mode TM,,, cavity operating at 2450 MHz. The measured pulling force was about 250 N, showing a stick-slip behavior for a crosslinked profile. The ultimate tensile strength and the interlaminar shear strength of the profiles increased after post curing, suggesting that the extent of crosslinking in the MAP die may be diffusion limited. Permeability of free space, 1.25 X lo4 H/m Relative permeability Electrical conductivity, siemens/m Density, kg/m3 Angular frequency, rad/s Heat of reaction, kJ/kg POLYMER COMPOSITES, AUGUST2000, Val. 21, No. 4 593 J. M . M e t h v e n , S . R. ( i y a n L, and A. 2. Abidin
Pultrusion is the only continuous process available for the manufacture of fibre reinforced thermosetting composites. It its simplest form it requires that dry reinforcement inthe form of continuous rovings or fabrics is pulled through a shallow bath of resin and then through a heated metal die wherein the resin crosslinks to a rigid network. The rate of manufacture (pulling speed) depends on two factors; the rate of heat transfer to and through the composite by conduction from the (heated) die wall and the rate of heat generated internally by the (exothermic) crosslinking reaction.
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