Modelling and experimental validation of thermoset resin curing during pultrusion

Abstract

Abstract Mathematical modelling of the pultrusion manufacturing process involves many parameters of the resin mixture. In this article thermo-chemical behavior of resin used for pultrusion of glass fiber/epoxy-vinyl L-shaped profiles was characterized. Profiles were manufactured at pulling speeds of 200, 400, and 600 mm·min-1. Dependency of resin specific heat from temperature was determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC); the influence of temperature on resin’s thermal conductivity was found; parameters of resin cure kinetics were described. Subsequently, the gained parameters were used for numerical simulation of the pultrusion thermo-chemical problem in ABAQUS software. The temperature and cure degree evolutions obtained from the experiments run at different pulling speeds, and those from the numerical model were shown to be correlated.