Towards time-reduced cure cycles of epoxy resins for mass production of composites maintaining the thermo-mechanical properties

Abstract Because long curing times hinder the mass manufacturing of composite products, there is a constant quest to develop shorter curing cycles that maintain material quality. The authors recently developed a curing prediction methodology for thermoset composites based on an isoconversional model, which is used in this work to shorten the curing time of real practice processes. The investigation presents two optimized cure cycles devised to reduce the curing times recommended by the resin manufacturer while assure a complete degree of cure and restricting the exothermal flow to avoid undesired overheating. The mechanical (compression, in-plane, and interlaminar shear) and physical ( $$T_\mathrm{{g}}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>T</mml:mi> <mml:mi>g</mml:mi> </mml:msub> </mml:math> , void content, and outgassing) properties of specimens extracted from panels manufactured according to recommended curing cycles and the two time-reduced cycles (up to 72% shorter) presented here, exhibited deviations of less than 4%, and always fell within the acceptable range for the most demanding of industrial sectors: aeronautics. The results support the prediction model’s feasibility to achieve more efficient and productive processes.