• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.238-244
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• 2000

FBGs have been extensively used as strain sensors or temperature sensors in a variety of applications related to composites because of embedding ability, small size and multiplexing capability. We inspected embedding environments inside composites with optical fiber by microscope analysis and birefringence characteristics of FBG embedded into textile composite laminate by cure monitoring using a high power WSFL. The cure monitoring of the cases with the striped FBG and the recoated FBG provided comprehensive understandings about the birefringence effect induced by the transverse stress. And these results allowed to consider a recoating method as an important tool to relieve birefringence.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.42-45
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• 2000

The properties of thermosetting resins are dependent on the degree of cure and consolidation quality. Since the consolidation process of thermosetting resin matrix fiber composites is much dependent on the viscosity of resin in the composites, in this study, the dissipation factor which is a function of viscosity was measured by the newly developed Lacomtech dielectrometry apparatus and sensors. Using the measured dissipation factors, the relationship between the dissipation factor and degree of cure with respect to environmental temperature was investigated.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.2154-2164
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• 1995

In this study, a dielectric cure monitoring system which consists of an electric circuit, a sensor and a personal computer was developed to on-line monitor the dielectric properties of carbon fiber epoxy composite materials. Also, the kinetic model of carbon fiber epoxy composite materials was developed by curve fitting of differential scanning calorimetry data. The start and end points of cure and the relationship between the dissipation factor and the degree of cure were obtained by comparing the dissipation factor from the dielectric properties with the degree of cure from the DSC data. The relationship between the dissipation factor and the degree of cure was tested under various temperature profiles.

• Composites Research
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.47-58
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• 2001

This paper describes applications of cure monitoring techniques by using embedded fiber optic strain sensors, which are extrinsic Fabry-Perot interoferometric (EFPI) and/or fiber Bra99 grating (FBG) sensors, to three kinds of molding methods of autoclave, FW and RTM molding methods. In these applications, internal strain of high-temperature curing resin was monitored by EFPI sensors. From theme experimental results, it was shown that strain caused by thermal shrink at cooling stage could be measured well. In addition, several specific matters to these molding methods were considered. As thor an autoclave molding of unidirectional FRP laminates, it was confirmed that off-axis strain of unidirectional FRP could be monitored by EFPI sensors. As for FW molding using room-temperature (RT) cured resin, it was found that the strain outputs from EFPI sensors represented curing shrinkage as well as thermal strain and the convergence meant finish of cure reaction. It was also shown that this curing shrinkage should be evaluated with consideration on logarithmic change in stiffness of matrix resin. As for a RTM melding, both EFPI and FBC sensors were employed to measure strain. The results showed that FBG sensors hale also good potential for strain monitoring at cooling stage, while the non-uniform thermal residual strain of textile affected the FBG spectrum after molding. This study has proven that embedded fiber optic strain sensors hale practical ability of cure monitoring of FRP. However, development of automatic installation methods of sensors remains as a problem to be solved for applications to practical products.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.43-48
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• 2001

To overcome the disadvantages of conventional excavation technology, various trenchless (or excavation free, or no-dig) repair-reinforcement technologies have been developed and tried. But trenchless technologies so fat developed have some brawbacks such as high cost and inconvenience of operation. In this study, a repairing-reinforcing process for underground pipes with glass fiber fabric polymer composites using VARTM(Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding) has been developed. The developed process requires shorter operation time and lower cost with smaller and simpler operating equipments than those of the conventional trenchless technologies. For the reliable operation of the developed method, a simple method to apply pressure and vacuum to the reinforcement was devised and flexible mold technology was tried. Also, resin filling and cure status during RTM process were monitored with a commercial dielectrometry cure monitoring system, LACOMCURE. From the investigation, it has been found that the developed repairing-reinforcing technology with appropriate process variables and on-line cure monitoring has many advantages over conventional methods.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.189-194
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• 2003

Interfacial evaluation, damage sensing and cure monitoring of single carbon fiber/thermo setting composite with different curing processes were investigated using electro-micromechanical test. After curing, the residual stress was monitored by measurement of electrical resistance and then compared to various curing processes. In thermal curing case, matrix tensile strength, modulus and interfacial shear strength were higher than those of ultraviolet curing case. The shrinkage measured during thermal curing occurred significantly by matrix shrinkage and residual stress due to the difference in thermal expansion coefficient. The apparent modulus measured in the thermal curing indicated that mechanical and interfacial properties were highly improved. The reaching time to the same stress of thermal curing was faster than that of UV curing case.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.110-113
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• 2001

Dielectrometry has been used to monitor the cure of epoxy resin using composite matrix. In this investigation, physical properties of the mixture of epoxy resin(LY564), bisphenol A type, and cycloaliphatic hardener(HY 2954) were observed. Activation energy at maximum tan $\delta$ and gelation point was determined during isothermal scanning. From IonViscosity data, it was found that vitrification peak after gelation was appeared on slow heating rate. It was also measured that the duration time for full cure was necessary and it was about 24 hr at $145^{\circ}C$. Therefore, epoxy resin used in this research is required the extended time for full cure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2001.04a
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• pp.32-36
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• 2001

Recently, reaction injection molding has been used broadly for rapid prototyping, because of its convenience and versatility. Since the properties of molded products are dependent on the process variables and the production is very short(less than 2minutes), the control of process variables is important. Generally, the two significant process variables are degree of cure and temperature of the reactants. In this paper, the relation between the degree of cure and the temperature of reactants was investigated to find the optimal curing condition of reaction injection molding for rapid prototyping. The degree of cure during reaction injection molding was measured by the Lacomtech sensor and dielectrometry equipment employing Wheatstone bridge type circuit.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.747-752
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• 2008

Fiber-guided sensor system using a generator and a receiver can detect the amplitude of load or pressure. However, this type of sensor can show some difficulties in detecting the location of damages and pressure loadings. To overcome this weakness of this type, the ultrasonic active fiber sensor, which has an integrated ultrasonic generator and sensing part, was developed in this study. By using this sensor system, the location of mechanical loads can be exactly detected. Moreover, the ultrasonic active fiber sensor is more cost-effective than an ultrasonic fiber sensor using two piezoelectric transducers which are used as a generator and a receiver, respectively. Two applications of the ultrasonic active fiber sensor are demonstrated: cure monitoring of lead and measurement of liquid level. Present results showed that the active fiber sensor can be applied for various environmental sensing.

• Composites Research
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.30-38
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• 2002

Fiber Bragg grating(FBG) like other optical fiber sensors also has the merit of embedding capability. To increase their actual value related to embedding capability, this paper reported the reliability and signal characteristics of FBGS embedded in composite laminates. The microphotographs of embedded optical fibers visualized the embedding environments of stripped optical fibers and coated optical fibers. Based on these microphotographs and cure monitoring performed using FBGs, we could understand that the main cause breaking the unique Bragg condition of low-birefrigence FBG were residual stress artier curing and reported the stale of stress/strain of optical fiber quantitatively. The cure monitoring also showed the history of splitting peak of a stripped FBG along cure processing. In addition, we could obtain a transverse insensitive grating(TIG) with ease by recoating a stripped FBG. TIG has good advantage for real-time signal processing.