Guest Post by Huan Lee, Lambient Technologies In my last post I discussed boundary layers caused by electrode polarization and the resulting distortion of ion viscosity data. Boundary layers also arise when dielectric sensors measure through release films and vacuum bags, and it is well worth understanding how AC signals probe cure state through them. Figure 1 illustrates ... [Click to Continue...]

Guest Post by Huan Lee, Lambient Technologies In my first post we saw dielectric cure monitoring (DEA) uses AC signals to measure the electrical properties of a thermoset or composite. Under certain circumstances when materials are very conductive, a phenomenon called electrode polarization (EP) may cause abnormally high apparent ion viscosities [1]. Electrode ... [Click to Continue...]

Guest Post by Huan Lee, Lambient Technologies The curing behavior of Bulk Molding Compound (BMC) was observed using a high-speed dielectric cure monitor that can follow thermosets that react to completion in less than a minute. Bulk Molding Compound is generally the same material as Sheet Molding Compound (SMC) but in bulk form, so the analysis of results can apply to SMC as ... [Click to Continue...]

Guest Post by Huan Lee, Lambient Technologies  Huan Lee from Lambient Technologies will provide a series of  guest posts covering new advances in dielectric cure monitoring, also known as Dielectric Analysis (DEA). DEA is the only method that can measure cure state in real time under actual process conditions, DEA can generate results in the laboratory that are directly ... [Click to Continue...]

Previous nine posts covered many of the mechanical aspects of dispersing fillers into thermoset resins.  The final post in this series will cover measuring the mixing effectiveness using the fineness of grind or the Hegman gage.  The Hegman gage is commonly used as a quality control test at the end of a mixing process.  A small amount of material is required and can be obtained ... [Click to Continue...]