A novel method is proposed to simultaneously measure the effective chemical shrinkage and modulus evolutions of advanced polymers during polymerization. The method utilizes glass fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors. They are embedded in two uncured cylindrical polymer specimens with different configurations and the Bragg wavelength (BW) shifts are continuously documented during the polymerization process. A theoretical relationship is derived between the BW shifts and the evolution properties, and an inverse numerical procedure to determine the properties from the BW shifts is established. Extensive numerical analyses are conducted to provide general guidelines for selecting an optimum combination of the two specimen configurations. The method is implemented for a high-temperature curing thermosetting polymer. Validity of the proposed method is corroborated by two independent verification experiments: a self-consistency test to verify the measurement accuracy of raw data and a warpage measurement test of a bi-material strip to verify the accuracy of evolution properties.
We propose an integrated technique to measure critical mechanical properties of polymeric materials. The method is based on a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor. A polymer of interest is cured around a glass FBG and the Bragg wavelength (BW) shift is measured and documented while polymerization progresses at the curing temperature. After complete polymerization, the BW shift is monitored continuously as the temperature of the cured polymer changes. The desired material properties are then found inversely from the relationship between the Bragg wavelength shift and the deformation of the polymer caused by the changes in the material properties.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.