Rapid thermally assisted frontal curing of composites in filament winding process

Filament winding is a widely used processing method for manufacturing hollow or axisymmetric fiber-reinforced polymer composite structures. Traditional composite manufacturing via filament winding requires prolonged post-winding thermal curing, often for several hours in an oven or autoclave, resulting in long cycle times, low production rates, and high energy consumption. Here, we present a one-step, rapid, and energy-efficient approach for in-situ curing of composites during filament winding using thermally assisted frontal polymerization (FP). An infrared (IR) heating system is integrated into the winding setup to initiate the FP of a dicyclopentadiene (DCPD)-based resin system to enable composite curing within minutes, directly on the winding machine. The effects of key processing parameters, including the IR input power and rotational speed of mandrel, on temperature evolution and cure behavior are investigated through a combination of thermal profiling experiments and multiphysics simulations. We demonstrate that incorporating a preheating step during winding increases the initial resin temperature and enhances reactivity, leading to more uniform and complete through-thickness curing compared to cases without preheating. This approach is further validated by fabricating a thick composite part (∼1 cm) to demonstrate the scalability of the process through integrated preheating and controlled FP initiation. The results of this study establish practical processing windows for effective, uniform frontal curing in filament-wound composites and offer a pathway toward scalable, rapid composite manufacturing via the filament winding process.