FIRE RESISTANCE COMPOSITE MATERIALS FOR THE AEROSPACE INDUSTRY

LUCÍA ASARO; GUADALUPE RIVERO; SARA VILLANUEVA DIEZ; LILIANA B. MANFREDI; VERA A. ALVAREZ; EXEQUIEL S. RODRIGUEZ

Bahía Blanca

Simposio; IX Simposio Argentino de Polímeros; 2011

Universidad Nacional del Sur

Many fiber-reinforced polymers offer a combination of strength and modulus that are either comparable to or better than many traditional metallic materials. Some characteristic of this materials are low density, high strength–weight and modulus–weight ratios. For these reasons, fiber reinforced polymers have emerged as a major class of structural materials and are either used or being considered for use as substitution for metals in many weight-critical components in aerospace, automotive, and other industries (Mallik P. K, 2007). In the specific case of aerospace industry, the materials used must meet additional requirements such as dimensional stability, high stiffness and high temperature resistance. Fire resistance and ablative composites are used in nozzle turbine construction and other components of rockets and airplane engines, exposed to very high temperatures. Carbon fiber reinforced composites are indicated for these applications. In turn, to achieve the necessary standards of mechanical properties, it is essential to ensure a minimum content of bubbles in the material. The best technique for this is the processing by autoclave (Advani and Sozer, 2003).     The main objective of this work was to obtain phenolic resin-carbon fiber composite materials, and to characterize their mechanical properties and fire resistance. Nanoclays were added to phenolic resins in order to evaluate their effect on the fire performance of the composites.