Self-heating effects in thermoset composites

We describe a simple mathematical strategy, familiar from combustion studies, which can be used to predict whether or not temperature spiking occurs when a thermoset composite specimen is cured in an autoclave. For large specimens, thermal spiking cannot be avoided, so that Kim et al. (1995) have proposed an alternative process in which lay-up occurs contemporaneously with curing and consolidation. This steady-state process and its one-dimensional stability have been analysed by Teng (1993) for simple kinetic schemes using an asymptotic approach, but we describe a non-asymptotic strategy called the delta-function model. This has the advantage that complex cure kinetics can be handled with as much ease as simple kinetics. We present, for the first time, two-dimensional stability results, and show that, for nth-order kinetics, one-dimensional results will suffice.