Tool-mounted optrode

Figure 2. Tool-mounted optrode with glass-plate interface.

Tool-mounted optrode (TMO). The cure-monitoring experiments described here were conducted with a "tool-mounted" optrode (TMO) arrangement (5,6) (Figure 2) which is Ideally suited for the manufacturing environment where minimum interference with the laminate layup work is desirable. The use of a tool-mounted optrode is as simple as the use of tool-mounted thermocouples currently in wide use. Indeed, the TMO provides viscosity/degree-of-cure information on the cure state of the surface layer only. However, knowledge of the cure state of the surface layer permits determination of the cure states in the bulk based on the available models (1,2). 

The optrode-laminate Interface. The exact geometrical arrangement in which a tool-mounted optrode is in contact with the layer of resin covering the carbon fibers and the dimensions of the layer "viewed" by the optrode strongly affect the level of the FOCS intensity signal at a given cure time. 

---