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Accelerated aging versus realistic aging in aerospace composite materials. I. The chemistry of thermal aging in a low‐temperature‐cure epoxy composite
Author(s) -
Dao B.,
Hodgkin J.,
Krstina J.,
Mardel J.,
Tian W.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.24862
Subject(s) - composite number , epoxy , materials science , composite material , degradation (telecommunications) , accelerated aging , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , gravimetric analysis , ageing , thermal , chemical engineering , chemistry , organic chemistry , thermodynamics , telecommunications , physics , computer science , engineering , biology , genetics
Samples of an aerospace‐grade epoxy composite (M20/IM7) are subject to long‐term (∼ 1 year) thermal aging at temperatures of 70°C, 120°C, 170°C, and 200°C (in air) and the changes to the chemical and physicochemical structure of the composite are analyzed by a range of different techniques, including gravimetric analysis, FTIR, DSC, and DMA to compare the effects of different severities of degradation treatment. The results show that at the lower temperatures, the oxidative degradation changes are very selective for chemical defect groups, particularly near the sample surfaces. However, at the higher temperatures, combinations of further cure reactions and generalized oxidative degradation changes (again from the surface inwards) make for a highly complex ageing pattern for this particular composite material. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 102: 4291–4303, 2006