Compensation of Microwave-Source Heating Attenuation into Epoxy-Glass Composites: Experimental Results

The final goal of this study was to manufacture an epoxy-glass leaf spring by microwave processing. The physical properties of the final part to be manufactured, in particular, the mechanical properties, were directly related at the repartition of microwave-source heating during the treatment. The major problem in microwave processing, however, is the attenuation of the microwave source. Here, we propose a dielectric effect of attenuation inversion of the electromagnetic waves as a new method for the uniform treatment of epoxy-glass by microwave energy. This solution used the dielectric properties of the mold to control the microwave-heat-source attenuation into the composite to be treated. Many experiments were carried out to validate the proposed solution. The results show that the microwave-source heating attenuation could controlled and inversed. We demonstrated the uniform treatment of epoxy-glass parts about 100 cm long by means of the compensation of microwave-source attenuation. (c) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 39908.