Exothermic effect in the process of electron-beam curing of epoxy resins

Temperature measurements have been performed in the process of electron-beam curing of EB-I and EB-II epoxy resin systems. The influence of initiator content, resin type, and dose rate on the temperature of the systems was studied. Transverse and longitudinal temperatures of samples in the glass vessel were also analyzed. The nature of temperature curves varied with the different epoxy resin systems in the steel mold, but did not change with different contents of the initiator. At the same time, the heat had no effect on the gel fraction of epoxy resin systems. The temperature curve was greatly affected by the dose rate, and its peak value, peak width, and plateau value also increased with it. The transverse temperature of EB-II glass vessel samples increased as the radiation dose increased and, in the same sample, the temperature reduced as the distance between the radiation center and the test point increased. The longitudinal temperature of EB-I and EB-II resin systems in a glass vessel decreased as the radiation depth increased. As the radiation dose increased, the temperature of the EB-I resin system increased simultaneously, while that of the EB-II resin system initially increased and then kept constant when the dose reached a certain value. The temperatures of these two resin systems decreased rapidly when the radiation process stopped. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.