{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,3]],"date-time":"2026-02-03T23:33:08Z","timestamp":1770161588599,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,3]],"date-time":"2026-02-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1770076800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization from Romania"},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100006595","name":"UEFISCDI","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PN 23 17 04 02"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PN 23 17 04 02"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100006595","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100006595","name":"UEFISCDI","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PN 23 17 04 01"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PN 23 17 04 01"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100006595","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100006595","name":"UEFISCDI","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PN-III-P2-2.1-PED-2021-3408"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PN-III-P2-2.1-PED-2021-3408"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100006595","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Polymers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Out-of-autoclave (OoA) processing has emerged as a promising route for manufacturing high-performance polymer composites while reducing energy consumption and production complexity. The authors investigate the effect of curing temperature on the thermo-mechanical performances of carbon fiber-reinforced composites produced via resin infusion. Five laminates composed of six carbon fiber plies were arranged in a [90\/0\/45\/\u221245\/0\/90] lay-up and infused with an epoxy resin cured at 25, 40, 50, 60, and 70 \u00b0C. The influence of the processed temperatures of the mechanical properties was evaluated through tensile and three-point bending tests, whereas thermal performance was analyzed using Heat Deflection Temperature (HDT) measurements and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results demonstrate an improvement in stiffness, strength, and HDT with increasing the curing temperature, with the 40\u201350 \u00b0C range yielding the most balanced enhancement in mechanical and thermal responses. DSC analyses confirm that higher curing temperatures promote a more complete crosslinking reaction, consistent with the improved laminate performance. Overall, the findings highlight the critical role of controlled thermal curing in optimizing OoA polymer composite systems and support their suitability for energy-efficient applications.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/polym18030401","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,3]],"date-time":"2026-02-03T10:48:01Z","timestamp":1770115681000},"page":"401","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Thermo-Mechanical Behavior of Carbon Fiber Composites Processed at Elevated Temperatures"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Larisa-Anda","family":"Stroe","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Splaiul Independen\u0163ei 313, 060042 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Daniel-Eugeniu","family":"Crunteanu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Splaiul Independen\u0163ei 313, 060042 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2036-3509","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mihail","family":"Botan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"INCAS\u2014National Institute for Aerospace Research \u201cElie Carafoli\u201d, 220 Iuliu Maniu Blvd, 061126 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1531-4371","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Adriana","family":"Stefan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"INCAS\u2014National Institute for Aerospace Research \u201cElie Carafoli\u201d, 220 Iuliu Maniu Blvd, 061126 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"George Catalin","family":"Cristea","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"INCAS\u2014National Institute for Aerospace Research \u201cElie Carafoli\u201d, 220 Iuliu Maniu Blvd, 061126 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"40","article-title":"The Fatigue of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites\u2014A Review","volume":"85","author":"Kumar","year":"2024","journal-title":"Mater. 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