General objectives of the Polymer Composites activities are the development of high performance fibre reinforced composites mainly for the space and aerospace fields and the improvment or adaptation of composite elaboration processes to have lower cost production.
The research activities are also focused first on the use of nano-sized fillers for resin modification which should improve specific properties like mechanics, impact resistance, lower shrinkage during curing, lower permeability, UV protection, transparency, higher surface protection and flame retardant.
The laboratory has gained experience in all state of the art manufacturing processes like lay-up, vacuum bags, SCRIMP process, vacuum assisted resin transfer moulding (VARTM), autoclave curing, warm press and resin transfer moulding (RTM).
These processes have a high potential of improvement by combining different techniques (press and RTM), modifying the resin properties for shorter curing cycles or new hybrid techniques (prepreg and RTM) ...
The systemes which we focused on are:
| Components | Used in our Laboratory |
| Resins | High performance epoxies, RTM epoxy, Cyanate Ester |
| Carbon fibers | ECC 462, Tenax HTA |
| Nanoparticles | Al2O3, Y:ZrO2, Nanoclay |
| Nanotubes | Paper, felt |
| Surface modification | Plasma treatment, chemical sizing, heat treatment |
| Curing Temperature | RT till +180°C |
| Pressure | Vacuum till +8 Bar |
| Size | 5cm x 5cm, 15cm x 15cm, 30cm x 30cm |
Our facilities:
| Facilities | |
| Powder preparation | wetting agent, surfactants, ball milling, ultra turrax, centrifuges |
| Vacuum techniques | Pumps, bags, SCRIMP, peel plies, breathers, breeders, release agents |
| Light RTM | Plastech solid mould, up to 200°C curing cycle, 40cm x 40cm |
| Warm Press | Saspol press up to 160 Tons, 40cm x 40cm |
| Autoclave | Autoclave Scholz, up to 300°C and 10 Bars, 1m lenght x 50cm diameter |
| Size | 5cm x 5cm, 15cm x 15cm, 30cm x 30cm |
Polymer Composites (pdf)
vincent.calard@ait.ac.at
