EXPLORING THE FEASIBILITY OF COMBINING MATERIALS TO PRODUCE HIGH SPECIFIC MODULUS AND STRENGTH IN A SINGLE COMPOSITE

GRAPHITE FIBER IS ONE OF THE MOST VERSATILE REINFORCEMENTS KNOWN. WITH PAN BASED PRECURSOR, TENSILE STRENGTHS UP TO 1.2 MSI WILL BE AVAILABLE IN FY1986 AND WITH PITCH BASED PRECURSOR, MODULUS OF ELASTICITY UP TO 140 MSI WILL BE AVAILABLE. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROGRAM IS TO EVALUATE THE LIMITS OF SPECIFIC STRENGTH AND SPECIFIC MODULUS THAT CAN BE OBTAINED IN METAL MATRICES THAT ARE APPLICABLE TO ADVANCED NAVY MISSILE SYSTEMS. THIS PROGRAM STARTS WITH BASE PROPERTIES FOR PAN BASED GRAPHITE/METAL AS WELL AS FOR P75 AND P100 GRAPHITE/METAL, WHICH WILL BE USED TO DETERMINE PROPERTY TRANSLATION WHEN P75 AND P100 IS COMBINED WITH PAN FIBER IN A SINGLE CROSSPLY COMPOSITE. IF EFFICIENT PROPERTY TRANSLATION CAN BE ACHIEVED, THE FEASIBILITY OF A SINGLE CROSSPLY COMPOSITE EXHIBITING HIGH SPECIFIC STRENGTH IN ONE DIRECTION AND HIGH SPECIFIC MODULUS IN THE OTHER WILL HAVE BEEN DEMONSTRATED. OTHER POSSIBLE MATERIAL COMBINATIONS WILL ALSO THEN BE INDICATED.