Development of Cyber-Physical Systems for Epoxy Resin Insulators

The current work is performed in the course of a research project which aims for the implementation of an enhanced type of Cyber Physical System (CPS) which considers the production of electrical insulators based on thermosets. As these materials undergo a highly exothermic curing reaction during production, an appropriate production control is of uttermost importance to avoid, for instance, air pockets, poor surface finish, cracks or deformation of the parts due to non-uniform curing and residual stresses. Therefore, to achieve highly precise virtual predictions of the curing process, extensive material characterization is combined with suitable material modeling. In this work, the curing behavior is characterized using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) at nonisothermal (dynamic) conditions. The reaction kinetics are modeled using model-based methods, i.e. Prout-Tompkins, and model-free kinetic models (MFK), i.e. Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (FWO) and Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS). Thus, the activation energy and other kinetic parameters,
required for analysis, are determined. The curing progress of the epoxy material under isothermal conditions is predicted and validated with reaction data obtained from the isothermal DSC measurements.