Desarrollo de sistema de curado por efecto Joule en nanocompuestos de matriz termoestable con aplicaciones en la industria aeronáutica

Abstract

Nowdays, the curing of any thermoset material is performed using a heat source, that generally is a huge furnace. This furnace tipically needs a lot of energy. The main target of the present work is the achievement of the curing of a thermoset material using the Joule effect. This will reduce the amount of energy needed to achive the curing process. In order to decrease the resistivity of the material, multiwall Carbon Nanotubes have been introduced in the material at a concentration of 3 % over the percolation threshold. The curing of the composite that is driven by the heat produced by the Joule effect has being followed by rheology. In order to do that, we have used aluminium parallel plate geometries where each plate is soldered to the positive and negative terminals of a DC source. The voltage difference between both plates produces the electrical current that gives the commanded increase in temperature. The termogravimetic technique was used to characterize the impact of the Carbon nanotubes on the degradation of the composite. The calorimetric technique allowed us to be sure that the conversion percent reached and the glass transition of material is suitable for the required application. Once the material´s behavior during the curing process is known, a prototype was built.