Nondestructive interfacial evaluation and cure monitoring of carbon fiber/epoxyacrylate composite with UV and thermal curing using electro-micromechanical technique

Interfacial evaluation, damage sensing and cure monitoring of single carbon fiber/thermo setting composite with different curing processes were investigated using electro-micromechanical test. After curing, the residual stress was monitored by measurement of electrical resistance and then compared to various curing processes. In thermal curing case, matrix tensile strength, modulus and interfacial shear strength were higher than those of ultraviolet curing case. The shrinkage measured during thermal curing occured significantly by matrix shrinkage and residual stress due to the difference in thermal expansion coefficient. The apparent modulus measured in the thermal curing indicated that mechanical and interfacial properties were highly improved. The reaching time to the same stress of thermal curing was faster than that of UV curing case.