Quality Control and Cure Status Monitoring Sensor Based on Industrial Carbon Nanotube Masterbatch

The curing cycles of thermoset polymers dictate the degree of cure and the subsequent material properties and their performance. So, monitoring the degree of cure is crucial. The curing cycles are often changed during the manufacturing process to ensure an acceptable degree of cure while balancing manufacturing time and energy expenses. The conventional methods to monitor curing are expensive, time consuming, require suspension of production process, destructive, limited to few locations, cannot be performed directly on the production line, and come at the cost of increased complexity or compromised mechanical property. Here, we present a novel in-situ nano-engineered, low-cost, easy to operate sensor and non-destructive methodology for determining and continuous monitoring of curing process in a production line without any compromise on mechanical property. The sensor is based on the industrial carbon nanotube masterbatch for thermoset polymer materials. Application of such sensor improves and advances the quality control and increases the productivity of composite manufacturing.