Q2. What are the future works in "Comparison of the mechanical and physical properties of a carbon fibre epoxy composite manufactured by resin transfer moulding using conventional and microwave heating" ?
However, further research is necessary in order to understand and explain the differences in the reaction mechanism between thermally and microwave cured composites.
Q3. What is the effect of the microwave on the composite?
Within the composite it is likely that the microwave electric field generates an electric current in the carbon fibres and thus resistive heating.
Q4. What is the effect of the increase in the interlaminar shear strength?
The increase in the interlaminar shear strength could be also partly attributed to extended plastic deformation and hence increased crack-tip blunting, as a result of the greater amount of resin between the fibre layers in the microwave cured samples compared to those cured thermally, given the lower fibre volume fraction of the former.
Q5. What is the effect of a lowering in the resinviscosity at the initial?
The enhancement in the interlaminar shear strength can be ascribed to a lowering in the resinviscosity at the initial curing stage of microwave processing, before the cross-linking density starts to rise rapidly and the resin becomes very viscous; in which case no significant change in the composite physical properties could occur.
Q6. Why was the interlaminar fracture behaviour different between the two types of composites?
due to the complexity of woven fabric composites compared to unidirectional composites, the interlaminar fracture behaviour under Mode I, Mode II and mixed Mode The authorand II loading could also be investigated in order to have a more in depth understanding of the main failure modes.
Q7. What is the skin depth at the frequencies used in the present work?
Calculations based on the dielectric data measured for Hexply 6376 by Atkinson [31] show that the skin depth at the frequencies used in the present work is between 0.5 and 2.2 cm.
Q8. What was the temperature of the sample?
The sample temperature was constantly monitored by the computer via a serial connection (RS-232) with the fluoroptic thermometer.
Q9. Why did the cure cycle time difference between conventional and microwave RTM processing be achieved?
This 50% cure cycle time reduction between conventional and microwave RTM processing wasachieved due to the different nature of interaction between the resin and microwave radiation, which in turn yields a different heating mechanism compared to conventional thermal heating.
Q10. What is the effect of lowering the resin viscosity on the interlaminar?
Previous work suggests that by lowering the resin viscosity, improved resin-fibre adhesion and fibre wet-out can be achieved [33-35].
Q11. What was the power used to control the cure temperature?
As can be seen from Eq.1, the amplifier output power used was proportional to the square of the difference between the set cure temperature and the actual temperature.