The Study of the Polymer Composite Materials Curing Process With the Use of Microwave Radiation

Describes the main technological advantages of the microwave curing of polymer composites which include: reduced energy costs, environmental friendliness, increased speed of technological processes, high efficiency of the used equipment, the improvement of physico-mechanical characteristics of the resulting products. It is shown that influence of microwave radiation on polymer composite materials leads to an increase of their density compared to traditional methods of heating. The pilot study found that the density of the thermoset epoxy binder, obtained by using microwave radiation to 1.19 times higher than their density with the traditional method of heating. The maximum value of the density of the epoxy binder is achieved even microwave heating throughout the volume. The results of theoretical and experimental research in the field of high-performance technologies-cured sheet of polymer composite materials with a width of 500 mm and a thickness of 8 mm with the use of microwave radiation on the electromagnetic field frequency oscillations of 2450 MHz. The proposed model and calculation method for parameters of microwave installations and technological mode of curing of the polymer sheet of the composite material. As the heating elements of microwave setup used developed area of two-dimensional periodic slow-wave system. Design of a microwave installation allows you to create a uniform temperature distribution in the sheet of composite material. The discrepancy between calculated and measured values of temperature in the sheet of polymeric composite material does not exceed 5°C, and the deviation of the measured values of the temperature of the material from the nominal value of material temperature +180°C did not exceed 7°C.