Viability of PEEK for high-temperature microvascular composites manufacture

Abstract

Microvascular composites are materials with an inner hollow network which allows the circulation of fluids. This functionalizes the composite materials, giving them further applications such as self-healing or active cooling. Some of the already existing microvascular composites are made with fiber reinforced epoxy resin with cavities created by removal of a sacrificial low temperature resistant polymer insert. Current research is focused on the obtention of microvascular composites that can withstand higher service temperatures than epoxy, using polyimide as the high-temperature resin matrix. The aim of this project is to find a suitable sacrificial material that will withstand the higher curing temperatures of the polyimide while allowing its easy removal from the matrix. Three different candidate sacrificial materials were studied for this purpose: PEEK, PPS, and PC. Preliminary DSC test showed that the melting temperature of the PEEK was close to the range of the chosen resin. PPS melting temperature and PC glass transition temperature were below this range of curing temperatures. TGA test revealed that the degradation suffered by the different materials at the curing temperature of the polyimide was considerably low. A small-scale test mimicking the actual microvascular composite manufacturing conditions was designed to study the actual behavior of the different materials when heated. It was seen that both the PEEK and the PPS could not flow without applying extra pressure for the desired range of temperatures. Furthermore, a scaled model test revealed that there was no visible interaction between the different materials tested and the polyimide resin. The initial study showed that PEEK and PPS are not readily viable to use due to the apparent difficulties to remove them from the composite by just applying heat. PC was also considered not viable for this application since it softened too much a too low temperature.Outgoin

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