Fabricating advanced MXene-based hybrid materials to elevate fire safety and mechanical strength in carbon fiber-reinforced bismaleimide resins

Bismaleimide (BMI) resin holds great significance to the aerospace field, however, the limited toughness and inadequate fire resistance impede its broader application area. The addition of carbon fiber (CF) can enhance the toughness of BMI resin, but fire safety and interfacial stability between CF and BMI matrix need to be further considered. Here, the carbon fiber-reinforced BMI resin laminate was designed to improve fire resistance, mechanical properties, and interfacial affinity based on a novel P, N, and Si surface-modified flame retardant (MX@HBET) and silane-modified CF. Upon addition of 1 wt% MX@HBET to BMI/CF composites, the total heat release and total smoke production respectively exhibited 10.73 % and 33.3 % reduction. Furthermore, the laminate exhibited significant fire resistance when exposed to butane flame (1500 °C) and the backplane temperature was maintained at approximately 430 °C for 20 min. In addition, the impact and tensile strengths of the laminate respectively reached 82.10 kJ/m2 and 466.6 MPa (pure BMI/CF corresponding to 63.52 kJ/m2 and 350.1 MPa). In brief, the flame resistance and mechanical performance enhanced greatly via the introduction of modified MXene and CF, providing promising prospects for the application of aviation materials in extreme conditions.