Interlaminar Toughening of GFRP—Part II: Characterization and Numerical Simulation of Curing Kinetics

Various methods of toughening the bonding between the interleaf and laminate glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) have been developed due to the increasing applications in industries. A polystyrene (PS) additive modified epoxy is used to improve the diffusion and precipitation region between polysulfone (PSU) interleaf and epoxy due to its influence on the curing kinetics without changing glass transition temperature and viscosity of the curing epoxy. The temperature-dependent diffusivities of epoxy, amine hardener, and PSU are determined by using attenuated total reflection–Fourier transfer infrared spectroscopy (ATR–FTIR) through monitoring the changing absorbance of their characteristic peaks. Effects of PS additive on diffusivity in the epoxy system are investigated by comparing the diffusivity between nonmodified and PS modified epoxy. The consumption rate of the epoxide group in the curing epoxy reveals the curing reaction rate, and the influence of PS additive on the curing kinetics is also studied by determining the degree of curing with time. A diffusivity model coupled with curing kinetics is applied to simulate the diffusion and precipitation process between PSU and curing epoxy. The effect of geometry factor is considered to simulate the diffusion and precipitation process with and without the existence of fibers. The simulation results show the diffusion and precipitation depths which match those observed in the experiments.