Antje Stein de Vilchez ^a, Rickard Berggren ^b, Bryan Bilyeu ^a, Witold Brostow ^a,Peter Butzloff ^c, and Vendela von Malmborg ^b

^a Department of Materials Science, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76203-5310, USA
^b Department of Chemical Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology, Kanli KKT, Teknikringen 10, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
^c Chemical and Process Laboratory, Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc. P.O. Box 482, Forth Worth, TX 76101, USA

ABSTRACT

The cure-dependent expansivity of a composite 8552/S2 epoxy resin with glass fiber has been investigated by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA), and Pressure-Volume-Temperature (PVT) techniques. Two glass transition temperature models have been developed as a function of temperature and time. The first model is based on DSC measurements, the second on measurements of the loss modulus in DMA. A comparison of the modeled volume changes of unidirectional and bi-directional laminates was made to determine which approach might be better suited to predict volumetric changes.

* Proceedings of ANTEC'98, 26 April - 1 May 1998, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, Volume II. P. 1663