METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IN-SITU MEASUREMENT OF POLYMER CURE STATUS

摘要

An apparatus and method for determining the cure state of thermosetting polymers using time domain reflectometry. A miniature capacitor (18) is constructed at the end of a controlled transmission line (16) which is immersed in the curing polymer (20) so that the polymer (20) is the dieletric of the capacitor (18), and step function voltage pulses (14) are fed to the transmission line, while the reflected signal (22) from the line (16) is monitored. The amplitude and decay characteristics of the reflected signals (22), which are related to the degree of cure and the viscosity, respectively, are fed to a computer (28) for interpretation and display (26).