Effect on the residual stress of cure conditions in an epoxy system

A dilatometer was used to investigate the effect of cure conditions and the presence of filler in an epoxy system. These studies showed shrinkage in the cured epoxy when heating it through the glass transition temperature region. The magnitude of the shrinkage, related to stress build up in the epoxy during curing, was influenced by the processing conditions, filler presence and the nature of the mold used to contain the resin. Cure and cyclic cure at a lower temperature, prior to a post cure, decreased the magnitude of observed shrinkage. Cure shrinkage decreased with number of cyclic cure. Post cured samples outside the mold led to less shrinkage compared with sample in the mold. And sample containing kaolin filler showed less shrinkage than unfilled sample.