Cure Shrinkage Coupled to Resin Flow: Free Surfaces, Cavitation, Feeding and Internal Defect Formation

This review examines when cure shrinkage can no longer be treated as a purely local strain because liquid feeding, free-surface motion and pressure evolution become part of the defect mechanism. Gelation shifts the material from flow accommodation toward solid stress accumulation, while viscosity growth increases the pressure required to replenish shrinking regions. The measurement architecture combines dilatometry or density-based shrinkage mapping, free-surface DIC, micro-CT of internal voids and pressure sensing in confined resin channels. Comparing open, sealed and vented geometries separates feeding limitation from intrinsic shrinkage. The resulting qualification framework identifies when a geometry requires a feeding path or vent and when cavitation or internal void formation must be included explicitly.

ER-354.