Use of the Fastusol Red Dye Test to Determine Cure in GlassMat Resins, 1997 Nonwovens Conference Proceedings

The red dye test is commonly used in the glass mat industry as a quick on-line method of determining the degree of cure. The work presented here shows how the red dye test should be used in order to obtain valuable information. Both laboratory handsheets and industrial samples of glass mat were tested and mat was judged based upon the amount of pink color which it retained. The test gave reliable results when applied to identical resin systems differing only by the addition of catalyst and when performing a cure profile on a particular binder system. However, latex addition to a binder system can make the results of the test unclear, different resins respond differently to the dye, the red dye test doesn’t always correspond to other methods of determining cure, and testing technique is extremely important. The test should not be used to compare different binder systems and should be recalibrated each time a change in white water chemicals, resin, modifier, glass sizing, or dispersant is made.