Composite materials are revolutionizing architecture, since they allow the replacement of traditional materials and provide more options allowing higher design freedom to designers. Durability is one of the key factors in the development of composite materials in the construction sector. The use of biocomposites will allow us to improve the indoor air quality of houses and therefore personal health. It will also increase the thermal and acoustic insulation of houses and control the breathability of construction systems.

Different types of phosphorus containing halogen-free flame retardants (FRs) were added to an epoxy-dicyandiamide resin formulation in order to study to which extent they affect its glass transition temperature (T g), tensile properties, thermal stability and burning behavior of the resin. For this purpose, an additive-type FR (ammonium polyphosphate encapsulated in melamine resin, MAPP) and two reactive-type FRs i) a commercial epoxy resin pre-reacted with 9,10-dihydro-oxa-10phosphaphenanthrene-10-oxide, (DOPO), and ii) a phosphorus containing hardener (poly(m-phenylene methylphosphonate), (PMP) were used. It was observed that the addition of additive-type FR did not affect in great extent the T g and provided a V-0 rating in UL94 test at low loadings. The addition of reactive-type FRs (DOPO and/or PMP), however, modified the structure of the chain network resulting in lower crosslink density as a consequence of their higher equivalent mass, but achieving also with low PMP content V-0 rating.

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The use of microwave radiation for curing carbon-fiber reinforced polymer materials (CFRP) can solve the nonhomogeneous heating problems when using conventional techniques based on the use of catalysts and can reduce the processing times. Optical fiber sensors have well-known advantages for Fiber Reinforced Composites (FRC) monitoring. In this paper fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) are used for online monitoring of the residual stress and distortions produced during the microwave curing process. The CFRP samples are composed by layers of unidirectional carbon fibers and epoxy resin. The results show a very different behavior between the direction of carbon fibers and the perpendicular direction. Results are compared with the conventional processing technique

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