LAUSR

The electron beam (EB) with emitting energies lower than 150 keV is applicable in in situ curing of polymer-matrix composites; however, being poor in penetration ability, it leads to significant attenuation of irradiation dose along the prepreg thickness. In this study, polymer-matrix composites were fabricated by low-energy EB irradiation curing, and the effect of dose control of double-sided irradiation was systematically investigated. Experimental results showed that laminates fabricated by single-sided irradiated prepregs were low in interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) owing to incomplete curing after being post cured at 180 °C for 30 min. A double-sided irradiation method which included irradiation of equal dose and different doses on both sides of the prepreg was proposed to overcome this difficulty. Analysis showed that under a total dose of 70 and 100 kGy, the ILSS results were high owing to the low curing degree of two adhesive surfaces; under a total dose of 130 and 160 kGy, laminates fabricated with different EB irradiation doses on both sides exhibited enhanced ILSS compared to those with equal dose on both sides, owing to physical adhesion and chemical crosslinking between layers. The ILSS results exhibited the largest increase of 18.9 and 60.5%, respectively, by tuning the dose differences between both sides of the prepregs. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 44944.