Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

Polymer Matrix Composite Materials (PMCM) offer a high stiffness / mass ratio. Their use in the transport industry for the replacement of metallic components has steadily increased in the last decade. The principal advantage of such replacement is the diminution of the vehicle mass which leads fuel economies. Since environment and energy production will be planetary issues for the future years, efforts are required for minimizing the energy required to perform a given task. Leading aerospace and aeronautics companies are using PMCV for both structural and non-structural applications. Of particular interest are the components clos to the engines where the service temperature can reach 550 F (288 C). At this temperature, PMCM are likely to exhibit a viscoelastic behavior. These components will also be loaded in fatigue due to the landing - parking take off cycles ofthe vehicle. In addition, the combined effects of high temperature and the environment near the engines are likely to increase the ageing process ofthe polymer matrix. The designer of such components has therefore many parameters to take into consideration and he requires efficient predictive tools in order to optimize the component mass and to reduce the certification costs. The principal objective of this collaborative project is to develop in collaboration with the industrial partners novel methodologies for predicting the mechanical behavior of PMCM used at high temperature considering static, fatigue and ageing effects. These methodologies will lead to new constitutive theories that will be implemented into commercially available Finite Element (FE) packages used by the industrial partners involved in this project. Validation of these models will be carried out on small scale structure components supplied by the industrial partners. The PMCM studied here will be a polyimide matrix reinforced by a woven or braided carbon fibers structure.