Numerical modeling of Internal curing of Glass Reinforced Pipes

FLORES, HUGO ALEJANDRO; FASCE, LAURA ALEJANDRA; RICCARDI, CARMEN CRISTINA; AYUDE, M.A.

POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE

JOHN WILEY & SONS INC

Lugar: New York; Año: 2015 vol. 55 p. 2626 - 2635

0032-3888

A dynamic one-dimensional model is developed to simulate the novel internal heating curing process in the manufacturing of glass reinforced epoxy pipes by filament winding. The model combines the energy balance with a mechanistic kinetic approach and it is experimentally vali dated using industrial plant data. The efficiency of a specific curing cycle at different operating conditions is analyzed. In particular, the influence of ambient temperature, initial mandrel temperature, glass fiber content, initiator concentration and pipe wall thickness on temperature, and degree of cure profiles within the pipe wall thickness is discussed. This study attempts to dispel current industrial myths and to propose practical strat-egies to improve the internal heating curing process.