Today we will start a new series on polymer composites.  There are many types of composites including polymer composites, metal matrix composites and ceramic composites.  The focus of this series will be on composites made using polymeric resins.  Polymer composites are ubiquitous.  Many of us don’t realize the many applications of composite materials from aerospace, sporting ... [Click to Continue...]

In the previous several posts three methods were discussed to measure the glass transition temperature: Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) Thermomechancial Analysis (TMA) Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) To compare the glass transition temperatures obtained using the three methods above, Tg data from an epoxy-amine system cured for 6 hours at 80oC is ... [Click to Continue...]

Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) is a powerful technique to measure the mechanical properties over a wide temperature range.  Commercially available DMA equipment are available with cooling units to enable temperature ramps from sub ambient temperatures to high temperatures.  From DMA measurements the modulus as a function of temperature is determined.  From the DMA run, both ... [Click to Continue...]

In our last post, the glass transition temperature (Tg) was shown to be a very good indicator of the degree of cure for thermosets.  In several posts in this series the use of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was presented as an easy and reliable method for measuring Tg at various states of cure.  DSC has an advantage in that the experimental method requires very small ... [Click to Continue...]

In the last post we started our discussion of how to monitor thermoset curing during processing and showed that the glass transition temperature (Tg) is a potential physical property that is useful for cure monitoring.  A common and easy way to measure Tg is using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), but there are other analytical methods to determine Tg.  First, let’s look ... [Click to Continue...]