Experimental analysis and modelling of temperature- and humidity-controlled curing

There has been much discussion about modelling the reaction kinetics of a curing polymer. Typically, curing is described by the development of a variable called degree of curing as a function of temperature and time. The material considered in this paper exhibits two different curing mechanisms, namely temperature-activated and diffusion-based. To be able to describe the complex hardening process, the material is extensively analysed experimentally, and a thermodynamically consistent coupled reaction kinetics model is formulated based on experimental observations. This model enables the implementation of the thermal, caloric, and mechanical properties of the material into a finite element (FE) framework.