The cryogenic evaluation of typical and experimental filament winding materials

HyPerComp Engineering proposes to conduct a series of material tests to evaluate the performance of standard and experimental filament winding materials in cryogenic pressure vessel applications. The need for high performance lightweight storage of cryogenic materials only intensifies. Some obvious aerospace applications include cryogenic fuel storage for liquid propellant rockets and satellite systems; for commercial applications there are requirements for a new generation of liquefied natural gas containers (LNG) for the ever increasing demand for improved and more efficient energy transportation systems. Attempts have been made to expand the limited knowledge of basic material properties and capabilities at extremely cold temperatures through testing with various forms of material coupons. The difficulty with this approach is in being able to apply the biaxial stress/strain state that the material will see in an actual pressure vessel to any degree of certainty. By testing the candidate materials in actual filament wound pressure vessels, in typical cryogenic pressurization sequences, the data gathered will be exactly representative of the performance that can be expected. This is the data required to design and qualify high performance filament wound composite pressure vessels for safe and reliable cryogenic applications.