Abstract
Chain Curing Polymers (CCP) cured with ultraviolet rays have many advantages over heat-cured polymers. Especially, an energy saving feature is remarkable. But it is not easy to know whether they have cured completely, because the temperature is governed by the heat generation during chain curing which can't be controlled directly. Cure monitoring is one of the best methods to solve this problem. In the present study, a cure monitoring method using optical fibers embedded in the polymers has been proposed for CCP. In the monitoring method, the refractive index of resins which changes during cure process is measured and the cure progress is monitored. The cure monitoring experiments were performed for CCP and the obtained results showed that the proposed method was promising for its cure monitoring.
