Low Cost Resin for Self-Healing High Temperature Fiber Reinforced Polymer Matrix Composites

Over the past few decades, the manufacturing processes and our knowledge base for predicting the bulk mechanical response of fiber reinforced composite materials has matured and opened the capability to design lightweight materials. The rapid development and progress of composites technology has been spawned by the high specific strength, stiffness, and toughness offered with respect to other engineering materials. However, the performance of a composite material is heavily influenced by the strength and toughness of the polymer matrix, which binds the high stiffness fibers into a cohesive element. Unfortunately, the highly cross-linked polymers necessary to achieve the high Tg required by propulsion systems are costly and prone to brittle fracture under even small elastic deformations. While the rigidity of the polymer is required for practical applications, the lack of resistance to crack propagation leads to damage prone materials. This proposed SBIR will develop a new low cost self-healing thermosetting polymer which exhibit high Tg (>550 F), high strength, stiffness and toughness from a room temperature low viscosity resin that allows processing without heating the polymer. The self-healing properties of polymer will yield increased reliability of the composite and reduced maintenance costs. HARP Engineering will formulate a polymer that meets or exceeds both the performance and cost metrics required by NASA through the use of multifunctional self-healing resins. This Phase I will perform mechanical testing of the resin at elevated temperatures and layup composites for ASTM testing to demonstrate the high specific strength, stiffness, and toughness compared to existing high temperature resins.

Throughout NASA's technology roadmap the need for improved materials is called out in nearly all Technology Areas and are highlighted as the enablers behind the structures, devices, vehicles, power, life support, propulsion, entry, and many other systems that NASA develops and uses to fulfill its missions. New materials are required, as are materials with improved properties, combinations of properties and reliability. In the field of propulsion, polymers which yield improved processing for fiber reinforced composites and lower cost while providing high specific strength and stiffness at extreme temperatures are necessary for wide ranging impact to NASA systems. The proposed research will specifically develop low cost resin systems for extreme environments which can be processed out of autoclave and with short mold times therefore allowing lighter weight materials to be designed. Furthermore, the self-healing behavior of the proposed polymer would provide increased reliability and reduced maintenance costs.

The proposed technology has numerous advantages that make it particularly well suited for commercialization, most notably the low cost, low room temperature viscosity and high thermal stability. Commercialization of the resin will be initially focused on aerospace related applications where high temperature stability is required. However, our commercialization efforts will go beyond aerospace, with focus on the transition of the resin to wind turbine and automobile production, which are currently two of the fastest growing areas for composite materials and place a primary focus on resin cost and mold time both of which are unprecedented for the proposed resin.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 4) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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