Novel All-Hydrocarbon Thermosetting Resins as Matrix Materials for Carbon and Glass Fibre Composites Materials I: Reinforcements

An all-hydrocarbon resin was synthesized using commercially available materials. The resin undergoes spontaneous cure at around 200°C and cationic cure at around 100°C. This resin gives composites with excellent properties when used with glass and carbon fibres. Flexural modulus values (DuPont DMA) of ca 66 GPa were obtained for carbon fibre composites compared to 42 GPa for epoxy/carbon composites made in our laboratories using commercially available materials. The modulus value at 300°C dropped to 10% of the room temperature value for epoxy composites, whereas the new material maintained 60% of its room temperature value. When brought back to ambient temperature, the modulus value had increased to 81 GPa for the new resin samples while that of the epoxy composite dropped to 23 GPa, Glass fibre composites with the new resin performed similar to the analogous epoxy material up to 200°C but maintained their properties up to 300°C while those of the epoxy composite were drastically reduced. Boiling water treatment had a large affect on the epoxy-glass samples but no observable affect on the glass composites made with the new resin. Scanning electron micrographs showed bonding of the new resin to both carbon and glass fibre surfaces. TGA analysis of both resin and composites showed decomposition beginning at 375°C. This new thermosetting resin thus offers a low-cost approach to glass and carbon composites possessing excellent thermal and physical properties, and out standing hydrolytic stability.