TY - GEN
T1 - Improved manufacturing of high-performance composites by frontal polymerization
AU - Parikh, Nil A.
AU - Geubelle, Philippe H.
AU - Sottos, Nancy R.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© ASC 2020.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Current manufacturing methods for high-performance fiber-reinforced polymer composites (FRPCs) are time and energy intensive, and their cost and complexity often act as a deterrent to wider the adoption of these materials. Frontal polymerization (FP) has recently been demonstrated as an energy-efficient, out-of-autoclave technique for the manufacture of thermosetting FRPCs. In this process, polymerization is achieved through a self-propagating exothermic reaction wave, triggered by an external thermal stimulus, that converts the liquid monomer to a fully cured polymer. Here, we demonstrate rapid manufacture of woven carbon fiber-reinforced composites with fiber volume fractions, up to up to 66%, a 30% increase over prior FP-based processing methods, using a combination of hot-pressing techniques, vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding, and FP. Higher values of the polymerization rate, maximum front temperature, degree of cure, glass transition temperature, and fiber volume fraction of these FRPCs are achieved by using different catalyst loadings and thermal triggering mechanisms. A systematic study reveals the effect of varying the catalyst loading on the mechanical and thermomechanical properties of the resulting FRPCs.
AB - Current manufacturing methods for high-performance fiber-reinforced polymer composites (FRPCs) are time and energy intensive, and their cost and complexity often act as a deterrent to wider the adoption of these materials. Frontal polymerization (FP) has recently been demonstrated as an energy-efficient, out-of-autoclave technique for the manufacture of thermosetting FRPCs. In this process, polymerization is achieved through a self-propagating exothermic reaction wave, triggered by an external thermal stimulus, that converts the liquid monomer to a fully cured polymer. Here, we demonstrate rapid manufacture of woven carbon fiber-reinforced composites with fiber volume fractions, up to up to 66%, a 30% increase over prior FP-based processing methods, using a combination of hot-pressing techniques, vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding, and FP. Higher values of the polymerization rate, maximum front temperature, degree of cure, glass transition temperature, and fiber volume fraction of these FRPCs are achieved by using different catalyst loadings and thermal triggering mechanisms. A systematic study reveals the effect of varying the catalyst loading on the mechanical and thermomechanical properties of the resulting FRPCs.
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M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85097263929
T3 - Proceedings of the American Society for Composites - 35th Technical Conference, ASC 2020
SP - 19
EP - 26
BT - Proceedings of the American Society for Composites - 35th Technical Conference, ASC 2020
A2 - Pochiraju, Kishore
A2 - Gupta, Nikhil
PB - DEStech Publications
T2 - 35th Annual American Society for Composites Technical Conference, ASC 2020
Y2 - 14 September 2020 through 17 September 2020
ER -