Preparation of Glass FIber Reinforced Materials - an Unconventional Application for UV-Curing

UV-curing technology is well established in coatings and printing ink applications, but is not often used for curing of thicker materials. Interestingly, some advantages of UV curing for glass fiber reinforced resins have been known since the early 70's.

Glass-fiber reinforced laminates are useful materials for architectural and building applications. They combine high strength with low weight. The term composites refers to materials in which a polymer acts as a matrix or binder for fibers or particles of a reinforcing component, which itself endows the overall system with strength and stability. The high fracture strength is due to the heterogeneous composition of the polymer matrix and intercalary fibers. Examples of common and high-volume applications are building faces, lining walls, roofing and construction of vehicles and boats.

This paper is focused on radically curable resins, especially unsaturated polyesters (UPES), as a matrix for reinforcing glass fibers. Usually, peroxides are employed as initiators for the curing of UPES resins for such applications. The decomposition of the peroxide is triggered by heat or by so-called activators and the polymerization is completed by heating the material.