Cure monitoring of adhesives is used to improve the efficiency of processing, for quality assurance, and to study the curing process. Knowledge of the degree of cure is extremely important with respect to the final properties that the adhesive joint is expected to have. The use of cure monitoring has become common because it can provide several important functions including the following:
* prevent waste due to short working life or incorrect processing procedures
* control ageing the use of an incorrect mixing ratio
* determine improper mixing
* determine cure point to apply pressure for optimum properties
* measure the effect of external environments such as humidity, substrates, etc. on the cure properties of the adhesive
* assure batch-to-batch uniformity.
A partially cured or incompletely cured adhesive may contain unreacted compounds that can result in reduced bond strength and poor environmental resistance and durability. These unreacted compounds can also be a source of contamination in that they can migrate out of the "cured" adhesive over time.