All-Aromatic aerospace composites: An integral approach towards the design and synthesis of fiber and resin chemistries (07560)

State-of-the art fiber reinforced aerospace composites, as in use today, are the result of two traditionally different technological developments. A variety of different fibers, and an even larger variety of resins, have been developed independently and the resulting composite structures exhibit physical and mechanical properties far from what theoretically can be expected.

Problematic has always been the poor resin-fiber interface, the difference in physical properties between resin and fiber, and the poor compression behavior of most -if not all- polymeric high-performance liquid crystal fibers. A significant improvement can be realized when lyotropic fibers and thermotropic resins are developed using an integral design approach.

The first PhD student will devote his time towards the synthesis and characterization of compression stable lyotropic LCPs. The second PhD student will synthesize the thermotropic matrix resins and will prepare, and investigate, the initial composite properties. The materials developed here will lead to a next generation high-performance composites for aerospace and other demanding structural applications.