Fiber Optic Flow and Cure Sensing for Liquid Composite Molding

Published

February 1, 2001

Author(s)

Joy P. Dunkers, Joseph~undefined~undefined~undefined~undefined~undefined Lenhart, S R. Kueh, J H. VanZanten, S G. Advani, Richard~undefined~undefined~undefined~undefined~undefined Parnas

Abstract

The Polymer Composites group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology has efforts in both on-line flow and cure sensing for liquid composite molding. For our flow program, a novel fiber optic real time sensor system has been developed that can sense resin at various locations on a single fiber using long-period gratings and a polychromatic source. The sensor operation and characterization will be discussed along with sensor performance during mold filling with various types of reinforcement. The cure sensing program focuses on the interface-sensitive fluorescence response of a dye molecule grafted to a high- index glass fiber. The fluorescence emission of the fluorophore undergoes a blue shift as the resin cures. The fluorescence sensor is made by grafting a silane functional fluorophore onto the surface of the glass with close attention to layer thickness. Fluorescence emission of the grafted fluorophore film is shown to be sensitive to epoxy resin cure, co-silane, and layer thickness. The response of the grafted fluorophore to cure on a high index fiber is demonstrated.

Citation

Optics and Lasers in Engineering

Volume

35

Issue

No. 2

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

Local Download

Keywords

cure, fiber optic, flow, fluorescence, liquid composite molding, longperiod gratings, sensor

Citation

Dunkers, J. , Lenhart, J. , Kueh, S. , VanZanten, J. , Advani, S. and Parnas, R. (2001), Fiber Optic Flow and Cure Sensing for Liquid Composite Molding, Optics and Lasers in Engineering, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=851712 (Accessed October 21, 2025)