Effect of cure kinetic simulation model on optimized thermal cure cycle for thin‐sectioned composite parts

In this article, the optimal design of the thermal cure cycle of a prepreg material has been presented. Three different kinetic methods have been considered to determine the kinetic parameters of the curing reaction of an epoxy/glass prepreg. The capability of these kinetic models in simultaneously predicting kinetic parameters in isothermal and non-isothermal conditions differs with each other. For the simulation of the cure cycle, a zero-dimensional model has been used and coupled with the genetic algorithm to optimize the cure cycle of thin composite parts. The effect of the kinetic models on the optimized cure cycle has been investigated. Of these models, only one model could predict the kinetic parameters outside the experimental temperature regions and resulted in a reliable and acceptable optimized cure cycle. The validity of the optimized cure cycle has been also verified experimentally. POLYM. COMPOS., 34:1172–1179, 2013. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers