US EPA

7479386 

Meetings & Symposia 

Assessing the sensitivity of cyanate ester composites to carbamate damage 

Colwell, TB; Jacob, C; Messana, M 

2011 

Long Beach, CA 

2011 SAMPE Spring Technical Conference and Exhibition - State of the Industry: Advanced Materials, Applications, and Processing Technology 

English 

Cyanate ester (CE) resins are desirable in the space industry as the supporting polymer for advanced composites structures. Unfortunately, the resin monomers are reactive with water in a manner that is detrimental to the desired properties of the system. This hydrolysis, which forms a carbamate, is a chain-terminating reaction that reduces the cross-link density of the final polymer. A commonly held belief in the industry is that this hydrolysis can be avoided with studious attention to processing details. However, hydrolysis cannot be avoided, merely mitigated. The idea of mitigation invokes the need to understand the relationship between the carbamate quantity and final product properties. This relationship has been determined for one common composite system, M55JB / RS-3C fabric. The method of assessment and functional relationship are presented herein. 

Advanced composites; Cross-link densities; Cyanate esters; Final product properties; Functional relationship; Resin monomer; Space industry; Esterification; Esters; Hydrolysis; Resins; Industry