Photocuring of Glass-Reinforced Polyester Composites

摘要

The Curing of unsaturated polyester/styrene resins (UPES) is conventionally initiated by free radicals generated from peroxides. However, this conventional peroxide initiation process has several limitations. These problems can be overcome by the use of photocuring, which involves the generation of radicals by light from a photoinitiator. In a series of Ciba-run laboratory experiments, it was demonstrated that photocuring with a bisacylphosphine oxide initiator is an effective method for manufacturing glass fiber reinforced composite laminates which compares very favorably to other methods. The tests demonstrated that photocuring is faster compared to thermal curing and the mechanical performance is sufficient for a broad range of applications. Photocuring has been shown to be not only a substitute for a thermal process, but also a method that may provide specific processing advantages.