Pultrusion Technology for Production of Carbon/Ticona-41 Liquid Crystal Prepreg

Ticona-41 is a liquid crystal polymer exhibiting resin properties that make it an attractive candidate for composite spacecraft structures. Unfortunately, its high melting temperature and viscosity make it very difficult for conventional processing technology to produce carbon fiber prepreg with a Ticona-41 matrix. KaZaK Composites proposes to investigate modifications of two unconventional, proprietary pultrusion-based techniques developed under SBIR specifically to address some of the resin characteristics of Tacona-41 that make prepregging with this material difficult. These techniques have been successfully used to make carbon / mesophase pitch prepreg, used as carbon/carbon precursor. Mesophase pitch is a high melting point material with many similarities to Tacona-41 processing conditions. KCI will consider application of a unique consolidation and B-stage tooling concept that eliminates many issues associated with the tendency of Tacona-41 to stick to tooling surfaces. In Phase I, alternative material and process candidates will be used to create sample prepreg material. Samples will be characterized to determine prepreg and composite quality. Phase I results will indicate the advisability of scaling up the process in Phase II to produce long lengths of consistently high quality prepreg. Successful Phase II conclusion will result in commercial availability of Ticona-41/carbon prepreg.