Customized sensing platforms for dielectric cure monitoring

Cure monitoring is a means of tracking the real-time changes in physical state or chemical reaction that occur during the curing process of resins. Dielectric Analysis (DEA) is the more effective method to measure composite cure state in real time under actual conditions, which can sometimes involve harsh processing environments as ovens, presses, autoclaves, etc. DEA, also referred as dielectric cure monitoring measures the variations in the dielectric properties of thermosets or polymers, relating the electrical quantities to physical properties such as viscosity, modulus and cure state. In this work, dielectric cure monitoring has been performed with self-developed sensing platforms using different signal processing frameworks. The different sensing principles and signal processing devices used to monitor the curing process, as well as the results obtained during their experimental evaluation will be presented.