EFFECT OF GLASS FIBRE PRESENCE ON CURING PROCESS OF UNSATURATED POLYESTER RESIN

The paper presents an attempt to estimate the difference in the intensity of the curing process of a polyester resin: without any filler and filled with fragmented glass fabric. Curing of the resin samples was carried out at room temperature. The temperature-time course of the process and gel time were recorded for each sample. On the basis of the obtained results and the conducted observations, it was found that filling the resin with fragmented glass fabric caused a decrease in the peak temperature of the curing process and increased the time of reaching this temperature. These effects were found to intensify with an increase in filler weight (inhibitory effect of the filler). A slightly longer gelation time was also found for the filled resin in comparison to the unfilled one. The observed effects indicate an increase in the thermal insulation of the curing mass along with an increase in filler content. They also indicate that the presence of fibers leads to stabilization (improvement of repeatability) of the resin curing process. The work is a continuation of earlier work aimed at experimental evaluation of the behavior of curing resins, which in turn will help to systematize the practical knowledge in this field. Thus, it finally meets the expectations of users and processors of curable resins.