Paper number 621

DEVELOPMENT OF CYANATE ESTER BASED CARBON/CARBON COMPOSITES

Kunigal Shivakumar1, Felix Abali1, Robert Sadler1, and James McCoy2

1Center for Composite Materials Research, Department of Mechanical Engineering
North Carolina A&T State University
Greensboro NC 27411, USA
2Non-metallic Materials Division, AFRL/MLBC, WPAFB, OH 45433, USA

Summary Presented a successful development of Primaset PT-30 cyanate ester based carbon/carbon composites. The PT-30 resin has comparable char yield of phenolics, very low volatiles, low viscosity at 120°C, and no by-products during cure. Hence PT-30 is an excellent choice for resin transfer molding (RTM) and C/C composites manufacturing. Starting with a RTMed PT-30 composite panel, complete carbonization and densification cycles were established. Densification was performed by conventional as well as RTM infiltration methods. The RTM method was found to be better because of no drying and disposal of solvents, and the panel can be cured in the RTM mold. Two types of 8-harness woven carbon fabrics were used, namely, T650 and T300-heatset made from 3K yarns. Density and mechanical properties were found to attain nearly optimum values after two densification cycles. Properties of T300 fabric C/C composites agree with the literature.
Keywords carbon/carbon composites, resin transfer molding, cyanate ester, carbonization, densification, infiltration, tensile modulus, interlaminar tension strength.

Theme : Ceramic Matrix and C/C Composites ; Processing and Forming

[ HOME ]  [ BACK ]