• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.1773-1782
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• 1994

In this paper, the expert cure system for carbon fiber epoxy composite materials, which controls the temperature and pressure of the autoclave according to the several rules, was developed to manufacture better composite products in shorter curing time. The rules were based on the on-line measured quantities such as the dielectric properties and temperature of the composites and the pressure of the autoclave. The curing time and the mechanical properties of the composite materials manufactured with the expert cure system were compared to those of the specimens manufactured with the conventional cure cycle.

• Composites Research
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.302-308
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• 2020

We measured the thermal conductivity of composite materials manufactured by the autoclave and vacuum bag only processes and predicted the cure behavior of the external and internal of composite parts with a cure kinetics model. The temperature difference between the external and internal depends on the processes because of the change of thermal conductivity. In the autoclave process, the temperature and cure behavior of the internal were similar to those of the external because of the high thermal conductivity. However, the temperature of the internal of the vacuum bag only process was different from that of the external. The difference can influence the part quality and evacuation of air. Compression tests were performed to find the mechanical property using 0° unidirectional specimens. The composite of the vacuum bag only process was found to have a lower compressive strength than that of the autoclave process.

• Composites Research
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.315-320
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• 2023

In the manufacturing process of thermosetting carbon fiber composite materials using an autoclave, the internal temperature changes according to the set temperature cycle. This temperature change causes the resin in the composite material to cure. Heat is generated through the chemical reaction of the resin, which can result in a difference between the temperature inside the autoclave and the temperature of the composite material. Previous research assumed that the temperatures of the composite material and the autoclave were the same and analyzed to predict the residual stress and thermal deformation after manufacturing. However, these stresses and deformations depend on the temperature and degree of cure of the composite material. Therefore, this study verifies a thermal-chemical model analysis technique that takes into account the heat generated by the chemical reaction of the resin to accurately calculate the temperature and degree of cure. Additionally, case studies were conducted for different thicknesses to investigate whether this model exhibits similar trends across varying thicknesses.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.29-33
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• 2000

The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of the autoclave inner pressure rate, heat-up rate, tool round angle, Thickness of core, height of joggle on defects, and to minimize the defects of aircraft sandwich structure reinforced with honeycomb core occurred in autoclave processing. The results showed that the geometry of aircraft sandwich structure and tool such as tool round angle, Thickness of core, height of joggle, and the autoclave cure conditions such as inner pressure rate, heat up rate strongly affected the core movement, core wrinkle, bridge phenomenon of prepreg and depression of core that occurred in autoclave processing.

• Composites Research
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.22-29
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• 2001

The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of the autoclave inner pressure rate, heat-up rate, tool round angle, Thickness of core, height of joggle on defects, and to minimize the defects of aircraft sandwich structure reinforced with honeycomb core occurred in autoclave processing. The results showed that the geometry of aircraft sandwich structure and tool such as tool round angle, thickness of core, height of joggle, and the autoclave cure conditions such as inner pressure rate, heat up rate strongly affected the core movement, core wrinkle, bridge phenomenon of prepreg and depression of core that occurred in autoclave processing.

• Composites Research
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.47-58
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• 2001

This paper describes applications of cure monitoring techniques by using embedded fiber optic strain sensors, which are extrinsic Fabry-Perot interoferometric (EFPI) and/or fiber Bra99 grating (FBG) sensors, to three kinds of molding methods of autoclave, FW and RTM molding methods. In these applications, internal strain of high-temperature curing resin was monitored by EFPI sensors. From theme experimental results, it was shown that strain caused by thermal shrink at cooling stage could be measured well. In addition, several specific matters to these molding methods were considered. As thor an autoclave molding of unidirectional FRP laminates, it was confirmed that off-axis strain of unidirectional FRP could be monitored by EFPI sensors. As for FW molding using room-temperature (RT) cured resin, it was found that the strain outputs from EFPI sensors represented curing shrinkage as well as thermal strain and the convergence meant finish of cure reaction. It was also shown that this curing shrinkage should be evaluated with consideration on logarithmic change in stiffness of matrix resin. As for a RTM melding, both EFPI and FBC sensors were employed to measure strain. The results showed that FBG sensors hale also good potential for strain monitoring at cooling stage, while the non-uniform thermal residual strain of textile affected the FBG spectrum after molding. This study has proven that embedded fiber optic strain sensors hale practical ability of cure monitoring of FRP. However, development of automatic installation methods of sensors remains as a problem to be solved for applications to practical products.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.465-468
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• 2006

This paper investigates the effect of curing conditions on the strength improvement of polymer-modified mortars using epoxy resin with various curing methods. The polymer-modified mortars using epoxy resin are prepared with various polymer-cement ratios, and subjected to standard, hot water, heat cure and autoclave cures. The epoxy-modified mortars are tested for flexural and compressive strengths at desired curing methods. From the test results, the flexural and compressive strengths of the epoxy-modified mortars are hardly improved by the autoclave and hot water cures compared to the ideal cure of $20^{\circ}C$. Among the four types of curing methods, the strengths of the heat cured epoxy-modified mortars is largely improved. Especially, it is obtained in the mortars sealed with PVDC film.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Marine Engineers Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.21-29
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• 2000

The Purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of the autoclave inner pressure rate, heat-up rate, tool round angle, Thickness of core, height of joggle on defects, and to minimize the defects of aircraft sandwich structure reinforced with honeycomb core occurred in autoclave processing. The results showed that the geometry of aircraft sandwich structure and tool such as tool round angle, Thickness of core, height of joggle, and the autoclave cure conditions such as inner pressure rate, heat up rate strongly affected the core movement, core wrinkle, bridge phenomenon of prepreg and depression of core that occurred in autoclave processing.

• Composites Research
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.315-320
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• 2016

Conventionally, composite aircraft structures are fabricated within autoclave at high pressure. However, autoclave process has several disadvantages including high curing costs and limitation of part size. Recently, out-of-autoclave (OoA) processes have been investigated in many studies to replace conventional autoclave process. A newly developed OoA prepreg, using conventional ovens, can significantly reduce the curing costs and produce autoclave-quality parts. Nevertheless, manufacture of void-free complex shape structure using OoA process presents significant challenges because of the low consolidation pressure. In this study, integrated skin-spar-rib composite part was fabricated using OoA prepreg. And cross-sectional macro- and micro-graphs of the part were examined in order to assess the possibility of replacing conventional autoclave process.

• Composites Research
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.404-411
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• 2018

As the autoclave process progresses in a given cure cycle, residual stress in the composite product is induced by cure shrinkage of the resin. As a result, It generates the thermal deformation such as spring-in and warpage, and the inaccuracy of the final product increases. It is important to predict thermal deformation in aerospace parts which require precise fabrication. The research has been done on predicting and grasping curing process of composite material. In this study, the cure mechanism of composite materials according to the process is predicted through finite element analysis, and the effect of cure shrinkage on thermal deformation generated by the process is analyzed.