Improvement of resin impregnation into glass cloth by silane treatment in resin transfer molding

Authors: Ohnishi, Akihiro; Ohori, Seiwa; Funami, Fumiyasu; Ikuta, Nobuo

Source: Composite Interfaces, Volume 12, Number 7, 2005 , pp. 683-689(7)

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Abstract:

An evaluation method was proposed for resin impregnation using resin transfer molding of unsaturated polyester matrix composites with silane-treated glass cloth. The determination of whitening of the composite was carried out as a parameter of incompleteness of resin impregnation. The change of whitening with silane concentration was compared with the bending modulus as a parameter of chemical reinforcement. The materials used were unsaturated polyester resin as a matrix and methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane as a silane coupling agent for glass cloth. Resin transfer molding was used to produce four plies of glass cloth laminates by impregnating the resin. The silane-treated glass cloth repressed whitening above 0.026 w/w% of silane in aqueous solution, while the chemical reinforcement due to silane gave no appearance below 0.2 w/w% based on the bending test of the laminates. The large difference between the concentrations suggested that silane has a couple of functions, that is, chemical reinforcement and physico-chemical resin wettability.

Keywords: PHYSICO-CHEMICAL PROPERTY; SILANE; RESIN IMPREGNATION; INTERFACIAL EFFECT; RESIN TRANSFER MOLDING; WHITENING; BENDING MODULUS

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156855405774327957

Publication date: 2005-09-01