Marshall Technical Reports Server

Low Temperature Mechanical Testing of Carbon-Fiber/Epoxy-Resin Composite Materials

NASA/TP-3663, Nettles, Alan T. and Biss, Emily J., Low Temperature Mechanical Testing of Carbon-Fiber/Epoxy-Resin Composite Materials , Materials and Processes Laboratory, Science and Engineering Directorate. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, AL 35812, November 1996, pp. 28, Format(s): PDF 2417k

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The use of cryogenic fuels (liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen) in current space transportation vehicles, in combination with the proposed use of composite materials in such applications, requires an understanding of how such materials behave at cryogenic temperatures. In this investigation, tensile intralaminar shear tests were performed at room, dry ice, and liquid nitrogen temperatures to evaluate the effect of temperature on the mechanical response of the IM7/8551-7 carbon-fiber/epoxy-resin system.

Quasi-isotropic lay-ups were also tested to represent a more realistic lay-up. It was found that the matrix became both increasingly resistant to microcracking and stiffer with decreasing temperature. A marginal increase in matrix shear strength with decreasing temperature was also observed. Temperature did not appear to affect the integrity of the fiber-matrix bon
Keywords:composite materials, cryogenics
CASI Document ID Number:97N12371
Subjects:Chemistry and Materials: Composite Materials: Composite Materials
ID Code:349
Deposited On:02 July 2002