Project relies on non-setting resin at ambient temperatures. 26 October 2006 – Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology (ICT) in Pfinztal, Germany, have built a prototype plant that can produce fibre reinforced plastic parts cured using microwaves.
The technique uses a low viscosity resin that does not set at ambient temperatures. Precise curing takes place through exposure to microwaves at a time determined by the producer, once the fibres or foam fabric has been properly embedded in the resin.
The new process eliminates the variability in curing rates that occurs with today’s technologies due to different ambient temperatures and ICT also sees the technique as a means of eliminating hazards from exposure to styrene in polyester hand lay-up processes.
Potential is seen for the process in large parts such as those used for ships, boats, building facades and windmills and ICT says that it is now seeking industrial applications for the process. The project is headed by Dr Rudolf Emmerich at ICT and involves a team of research institutes and companies from Germany, Slovenia and Spain.
Emmerich said: “The crucial factor is that we heat up and thus cure the components uniformly, regardless of their geometry”. Mobile antennae will be used to transmit the microwaves and the intensity of the microwave radiation and the new chemical composition of polyester resins for the process have already been specified, ICT says.
