An investigation of the mechanical behaviour of vinyl ester resins cured by microwave irradiation

Compared to the commonly used curing process in natural conditions, microwave-assisted curing is significantly faster and, as such, appears to be a valid alternative for manufacturing composite structures in many industrial sectors. However the effects of microwave curing on the mechanical properties of the materials have not been extensively studied or considered in the literature.In this paper, the influence of natural and electromagnetic radiation curing on the mechanical properties of a vinyl ester resin for marine applications have been investigated and discussed. The results of a series of tensile and impact tests, reported in the present paper, have shown that microwave curing provide tensile strength, stiffness and impact strength values greater than those obtained by curing in natural conditions and, in addition, that long exposure to microwave radiation could be detrimental, leading to a quick degradation in the resin strength and absorbed energy.