Abstract
The purpose of this study is to compare the mechanical properties in the form of ultimate tensile strength, ultimate tensile strain and Young's modulus of an epoxy resin at different curing cycles. The work carried out consisted of investigating the effect of preheating time and then the effect of post-curing time at the same temperature. Five repeats of static tensile tests were then carried out using universal test machine. Results indicated that compared to a shorter epoxy resin preheat duration of 15 min at 80 degrees C, a longer duration of 30 min at 80 degrees C of preheating degrades the material ultimate tensile strength and ultimate tensile strain leading to a stiffer material. However, compared to no further post-curing of the epoxy resin, a two-hour post-cure duration at 80 degrees C slightly increased the ultimate tensile strength and significantly decreased the ultimate tensile strain making the material even stiffer than in the case of preheating. The implication is that in-house cure cycle tests should be carried out to characterize the resin instead of exclusively relying on resin manufacturer proposed cure cycles.