Method for determining cure in a polycarboxylic acid bindered material
AssigneeOwens Corning Fiberglas Technology, Inc.
InventorLiang Chen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
By utilizing a pH indicator having known color change characteristics, an accurate determination of the pH of a binder surface, and hence the amount of cure of a polycarboxylic acid based binder on the fiberglass fibers, can be easily determined for polycarboxylic binder based fiberglass materials used in insulation and composite applications. Based on these results, the manufacturing line used to make these bindered materials may be adjusted to ensure adequate curing at maximum efficiency while minimizing operating costs and reducing waste.
Claims20
A method determining the amount of binder cure in a polycarboxylic acid based binder coated fiberglass article comprising:
- providing a coated fiberglass network, said network comprising a plurality of glass fibers coated with a polycarboxylic acid based binder;
- introducing said coated fiberglass network to a curing oven;
- heating said coated fiberglass network within said curing oven for a first period of time at a first temperature to cure said polycarboxylic acid binder to said network to form the polycarboxylic acid based binder coated fiberglass article, said first period of time and said first temperature defining a binder curing rate of said polycarboxylic acid binder;
- removing said coated fiberglass network from said curing oven;
- applying a pH indicator solution to a binder surface of the polycarboxylic acid based binder coated fiberglass article;
- determining a pH of said binder surface as a function of said pH indicator solution;
- and
- determining an amount of cure of said binder surface as a function of said determined pH.
A method for increasing manufacturing efficiency and reducing costs associated with making an polycarboxylic acid based binder coated fiberglass article comprising:
- providing a coated fiberglass network, said network comprising a plurality of glass fibers coated with a polycarboxylic acid based binder;
- introducing said coated fiberglass network to a curing oven;
- heating said coated fiberglass network within said curing oven for a first period of time at a first temperature to cure said polycarboxylic acid binder to said network to form the polycarboxylic acid based binder coated fiberglass article, said first period of time and said first temperature defining a binder curing rate;
- removing said coated fiberglass network from said curing oven;
- applying a pH indicator solution to a binder surface of the polycarboxylic acid based binder coated fiberglass article;
- determining a pH of said binder surface as a function of said pH indicator solution;
- determining an amount of cure of said binder surface as a function of said determined pH;
- and
- adjusting said binder curing rate as a function of said amount of cure of said binder surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.