Evaluation of heat damage in carbon/epoxy composites

A filter is required to remove airborne contaminants from the intake air in small displacement diesel engines. The filtration system must be simple, lightweight, and produce negligible pressure drops across the air intake. The filter will be fabricated by sol-gel techniques using a patent pending ambient pressure drying procedure that offers net-shape, low-cost fabrication with precise control of membrane pore structure. Combined with ceramic fiber reinforcement, the sol-gel process enables the fabrication of tough, low cost, high performance filters. Cylindrical filters will be chemically aged, dried, and infiltrated to control membrane pore size and pore size distribution. A hydrophobic layer will be covalently bound to the surface of the filter to prevent airborne contaminants from wetting and fouling the filter. Characterization will include thermal stability, mechanical properties, pore size and pore size distribution, filtration efficiency, in-line pressure drop, and wetting. TPL, supported by the research studies of the Center for Micro-Engineered Ceramics at the University of New Mexico, represents state-of-the-art expertise in ceramics, composites, sol-gel processing, and filter technology.