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Morphological evolution of polytetrafluoroethylene in extreme temperature conditions for aerospace applications
Author(s) -
Huang Xiao Lin,
MartinezVega Juan,
Malec David
Publication year - 2014
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.39841
Subject(s) - polytetrafluoroethylene , materials science , oxidizing agent , composite material , insulator (electricity) , thermal , aerospace , aerospace engineering , chemistry , engineering , physics , organic chemistry , meteorology
The organic electrical insulator polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is used in aerospace industry under extreme conditions of temperature and electric field. The melting temperature of PTFE is about 327°C and nowadays operating temperature of this kind of insulators can reach about 300°C and up to 350°C for new generations of machines. All thermal, electrical and mechanical operating stresses, especially high temperature and voltage can be factors of ageing acceleration and/or degradation of the insulators that could cause premature failures. Our present work is focused on the organic insulator behavior at high temperature in order to understand the mechanisms of thermal ageing and degradation. The change of morphology of PTFE during the thermal ageing has been studied. Thin films in PTFE were aged by accelerated method under oxidizing environment (air) and severe thermal constraints between 340 and 450°C. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131 , 39841.