Study the Process of Siloxane Curing by Experimental and Numerical Simulation

Curing process of siloxane polymer was studied by determining rate of heat released during Dynamic DSC analysis. Utilizing thermokinetics software were calculated model-free methods such as Kissinger, Flynn–Wall–Ozawa, Friedman and also model-fitting methods such as Coats Redfern. To improve accuracy, Khavam Flanagan’s combined method was utilized and the third-order Avrami model was determined. Simulation of the curing process was done using OpenFOAM open-source software based on the finite volume method. Simulation results were validated using DSC Isothermal data. The results of the simulated sample were in good agreement with the experimental data. The curing time was investigated in cylindrical, spherical, and cubic shapes. The longest curing time was assigned to sphere geometry and the least to rectangular cubes with equal length and width. To achieve the optimal curing method, the influence of various parameters on the curing process of polysiloxane, including oven temperature, mold geometry, boundary conditions (effect of curing in a fan oven) and geometry dimensions, resin density, and thermal conductivity coefficient were investigated.