Dose control of double-sided irradiation for polymer-matrix composites fabricated by in-situ curing with low energy E-Beam

The electron beam with energies lower than 150keV is applicable in in-situ curing of polymer-matrix composites but poor in penetration ability, leading to significantly attenuation of irradiation dose along the prepreg thickness. Experimental results in this paper show that laminates fabricated by prepregs single-sided irradiated are low in ILSS owing to incomplete curing at 180°C for 30min. A double-sided irradiation method which includes equal dose and different doses on both sides of the prepreg is proposed to conquer this difficulty. Analysis show that under a total dose of 115kGy, 130kGy, 145kGy and 160kGy, the ILSS results get a biggest increase of 10.6%, 15.9%, 17% and 37.7% respectively by tuning the dose differences between both sides of the prepregs. Larger dose difference decreased the ILSS of the laminate because of the weakened physical and chemical bonding owing to higher curing degree and larger curing synchronicity difference.