Residual stress development in curing processes: Material characterization and modeling

This chapter provides an overview of the development of residual stresses in structural adhesives due to curing processes, and the experimental characterization and modeling of these processes. Experimental methods to characterize the conversion and temperature dependence of the material properties are discussed, and numerical methods for simulating curing processes to predict residual stresses are outlined. The modeling method described uses a coupled thermal-structural analysis procedure where the rate of conversion and the associated evolution of the mechanical properties, shrinkage and thermal strains, and heat generation rate are computed as functions of time and temperature. The testing performed to validate the curing model is described, and the correlation between measured and predicted values is discussed.