Improved tensile strength and thermal stability of thermoplastic carbon fiber fabric composites by heat induced crystallization of in situ polymerizable cyclic butylene terephthalate oligomers

Abstract

Thermoplastic carbon fiber fabric reinforced composites (CFFRCs) were prepared using a novel fast manufacturing process with a low viscosity polymerizable cyclic butylene terephthalate (CBT) resin. Structure and properties of the composites altered by thermal annealing were investigated to develop appropriate post processing of the CFFRCs for fast production and lowering the processing cost. Annealing at 200°C for 120 min resulted in improved mechanical properties and thermal stability of the polymerized CBT (pCBT) based on differential scanning calorimetry, wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction, and thermo gravimetric analysis. The tensile strength of the CFFRC compression molded at 250°C for 2 min was 440 MPa and that of the CFFRC annealed at 200°C for 120 min after compression molding was 500 MPa, which is an improvement of 550 and 625% relative to the pCBT matrix, respectively. In addition, the thermal stability of the CFFRC annealed at 250°C for 120 min improved by 10°C. Therefore, tensile strength and thermal stability of the manufactured CFFRC can be improved by using the appropriate annealing conditions. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 54:2161–2169, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers

Electrically and Thermally Conductive Carbon Fibre Fabric Reinforced Polymer Composites Based on Nanocarbons and an In-situ Polymerizable Cyclic Oligoester

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ED-ROP of macrocyclic oligomers: A synthetic tool for multicomponent polymer materials

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A Review of the Recent Advances in Cyclic Butylene Terephthalate Technology and its Composites

“…In a follow-up work, 207 Kim et al 204 suggested a novel fast manufacturing process using high-speed processing at 250 °C for 2 min. Structure and properties of the composites were altered by thermal annealing and the mechanical properties as well as thermal stability were improved as the remaining CBT oligomers were polymerized further.…”