MECHANICAL PROPERTY AND RESIDUAL-STRESS DEVELOPMENT DURING CURE OF A GRAPHITE BMI COMPOSITE

Residual stresses in composites are developed during processing due to chemical shrinkage of the resin and the thermal mismatch between the constituent materials. How these residual stresses develop during cure is not fully understood. Furthermore, to model their development during cure the effect of cure on composite mechanical properties must be understood. This study addresses such concerns. Warpage of [04/904];T cross‐ply specimens was measured to monitor residual stress build‐up. Fiber‐dominated properties were found to increase moderately with cure extent. Matrix‐dominated properties increased significantly and were highly dependent on degree of cure. The curvature development was found to be elastic and could be predicted by laminated plate theory while neglecting chemical shrinkage. Thermal strains were found to remain essentially constant with cure time. Copyright © 1990 Society of Plastics Engineers