Study on Microwave Curing of Unsaturated Polyester Resin and Its Composites Containing Calcium Carbonate

Abstract

Microwave curing technology has been widely used in resin and its composite materials. In order to study its effect for curing unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) composites containing calcium carbonate (CaCO3) filler, this paper first investigated the influence of microwave power and microwave irradiation time on the curing characteristics of UPR. Then, CaCO3 particles were added to the UPR to investigate the microwave curing effect of the UPR composites containing the CaCO3. The results showed that microwave irradiation could heat the UPR sample evenly, and rapidly cause the chain growth reaction, thus greatly shortening the curing time. The curing degree and products of the samples after microwave curing were consistent with that of the thermal curing. The addition of CaCO3 particles could increase the heating rate of the UPR composites, which would accelerate the curing rate of the UPR. However, higher microwave power could lead to pore defects inside the UPR composites with higher CaCO3 content, resulting in a lower strength. Thus, the compactness of the samples should be improved by reducing the microwave power and prolonging the microwave treatment time.