racookpe1978, all good points. The simulation I offered was based on a rubber molding scenario where the uncured rubber is held under pressure in a mold that is temperature controlled. The original simulation was done awhile back for a simple curing study to understand if we were potentially heat aging a molded part by running an excessive cure cycle.
examorph, the simulation is a transient thermal finite difference model of the rubber volume that numerically integrates the time temperature to obtain the state-of-cure at each node (position) and time using a user input cure curve defined by ts2 and tc90 and the cure sample cure T. The transient finite difference thermal modeling technique is covered in many thermal textbooks. The cure calc is less readily available but a web search by your favorite search engine will get you some usable techniques.
Some of the assumptions in the model:
- no heat gain from curing kinetics
- intimate contact between the pressurized rubber and the mold cavity
- the entire uncured rubber volume starts at the initial temperature
- there is sufficient heat in the mold and heating platens to maintain the mold T at the controlled level
- the model is only 1D (2D if you use the radial option), i.e., it does not account for heat conduction from the ends
- constant thermal properties (conductivity, cp) of the rubber through the entire cure cycle
- ....
This model has worked pretty well for predicting the cure cycle of several high aspect ratio molded parts we've recently developed.
Have Fun!
James A. Pike