Modeling the Curing Kinetics of an Epoxy Binder with Disturbed Stoichiometry for a Composite Material of Aerospace Purpose

• Published in: Mechanics of composite materials Vol. 57; no. 3; pp. 361 - 372
• Main Authors: Gilev, V. G., Rusakov, S. V., Chudinov, V. S., Rakhmanov, A. Yu, Kondyurin, A. V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.07.2021; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adequacy; Ceramics; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Classical Mechanics; Composite materials; Composites; Curing; Data processing; Differential equations; Epoxy resins; Glass; Infrared spectroscopy; Kinetics; Materials Science; Mathematical models; Medical research; Medicine, Experimental; Natural Materials; Numerical analysis; Ordinary differential equations; Parameter estimation; Polymer matrix composites; Polymerization; Rheological properties; Solid Mechanics; Stoichiometry; mathematical model; stoichiometry; epoxy binder; rheokinetics; IR spectroscopy
• ISSN: 0191-5665; 1573-8922
• DOI: 10.1007/s11029-021-09960-3

Results of an experimental study and numerical simulation of the curing kinetics of an epoxy binder under the conditions of violation of the stoichiometric equilibrium of its components are presented. The object of research is a two-component composition of an L epoxy resin and an EPH 161 hardener, certified as a binder for composite materials of aerospace purpose. As the basic model, we used a system of two ordinary differential equations describing the behavior of the resin and hardener during the curing process. The values of material parameters necessary for calculations were obtained by a rheological method, where the viscosity of binder was analyzed as a function of polymerization time and hardener concentration. The estimates of model parameters obtained by processing data of full-scale experiments are presented. The effective values of kinetic parameters at which the calculated time of yield loss is in good agreement with the experimental one are determined. The adequacy of the model was confirmed by direct measurements using the IR spectroscopy.