Innovative Fiber Treatment and Sizing Technology for High Performance Vinyl Ester Matrix Composite Materials

A major limitation of vinyl ester resins is their performance with carbon fiber reinforcements. Carbon fiber composites can possess much higher specific stiffness and strength than glass fiber composites, but the laminated composite properties depend on a good mechanical interface between the matrix resin and the fiber. VE resins typically do not exhibit good adhesion to the carbon fibers and results in generally poor composite compression properties, interlaminar shear properties, and fatigue performance. To address these limitations of VE/carbon composites an innovative approach to increase the fiber interfacial adhesion and toughen the interphase region between the carbon fiber surface and the VE matrix will result in realization of the high strength, high stiffness, and lighter weight benefits of high modulus carbon fiber composites. In this proposed research effort Performance Polymer Solutions Inc. will develop an optimized VE-carbon fiber composite as a system utilizing: (1) a state-of-the-art VE resin; (2) an innovative carbon fiber surface modification; (3) advanced modeling and analysis techniques to efficiently optimize the desired characteristics of the resin-fiber interface; and (4) perhaps most importantly, teaming with a carbon fiber manufacturer to ensure that required fiber treatments are developed with production-scale considerations and transitioned to industry for immediate commercialization.