Preparation of latent curable prepregs and composites made thereof.

The project involves prepreg and composites manufacturing with latent curing agents incorporated into epoxy resin. Moreover, the stability of the prepregs and the mechanical properties of the composites made thereof will be investigated. The aim of the project will be to observe the latency effect of the prepregs through stability studies. The stability will be tracked through FTIR and DSC via the selected peaks and the curing enthalpy ratio. Curing kinetics will be also studied through DSC to obtain the optimum curing conditions for the epoxy composite as several different latent curing agents will be studied. Furthermore, the effect of latent curing agents on the mechanical properties of the composites will be observed through tensile, compression and flexural tests. A relationship between the glass transition temperature of the composite, viscosity and mechanical properties will be established to come up with an optimum system for storage of the prepreg and curing of the composite. PURE students will perform tasks such as cutting dry fabrics, wetting the fabric with resin, prepreg manufacturing in the oven, laying up and curing of the composites. They will also learn how to characterize the prepreg and composite through characterization methods as well as mechanical tests.