Processing of reactive acrylic thermoplastic resin at elevated temperatures for rapid composite and fiber metal laminate manufacturing

Publikation: Beiträge in ZeitschriftenZeitschriftenaufsätzeForschungbegutachtet

Authors

Thermoplastic polymers are increasingly being used as matrix materials for composites because they offer the advantage of recyclability and joinability over thermoset matrix systems. The polymerization kinetics and gas formation of different precursor mixtures of the liquid acrylic matrix system Elium® were investigated with different initiator contents and at different temperatures for accelerated processing of composites and fiber metal laminates. The mechanical and thermal properties of the resulting polymers showed no significant difference between the investigated parameters. However, the polymerization time was successfully reduced to under 15 minutes with higher temperatures and initiator contents in laminates with 1 mm thickness. In bulk polymerization and thicker laminates, the right parameters must be chosen to balance polymerization time and matrix heating to avoid gas formation leading to voids in the matrix. A combination of 75 wt% Elium® 130 and 25 wt% Elium® 190 with 1.25 wt% peroxide initiator at 50 °C was found to be optimal for reducing gas formation while simultaneously accelerating the polymerization reaction in 3-5 mm thick layers.

OriginalspracheEnglisch
ZeitschriftJournal of Thermoplastic Composite Materials
Jahrgang38
Ausgabenummer9
Seiten (von - bis)3437-3455
Anzahl der Seiten19
ISSN0892-7057
DOIs
PublikationsstatusErschienen - 01.09.2025

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© The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

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