Innovative Electron Beam (EB) Cured Structures

Serious limitations to the use of advanced organic matrix composites result from difficulties in producing large complex structures from two-dimensional materials forms such as preimpregnated tape or fabric, anf from the high costs associated with conventional thermal curing. Electron Beam (EB) curing offers the potential for dramatically lowering costs over conventional thermal curing by decreasing the temperature and time required, but formulations based on commercially available materials with excellent mechanical and thermal properties are required for high performance applications. Additionally, the EB process will facilitate the development and implementation of novel, low cost tooling for complex structures such as a geodesic dtiffened JSF inlet duct. Foster-Miller has developed an advanced preforming capability based on flat intersecting braiding technology that can produce complex netshape preforms for composite structures, and a development program at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory has produced EB curable resins with the best mechanical properties yet demonstrated. This Phase I program brings these two technologies together in an exciting opportunity to advance the state of the art for composite structures. Foster-Miller will produce and chanracterize EB cured intersecting braided composite parts using a proprietary Oak Ridge resin and compare their mechanical properties and environmental durability to that obtained with thermal cure of the same parts made with PR500, a flight-qualified RTM resin.