Nowadays the need to develop new materials able to combine lightness, mechanical strength and fire protection together with an easy and sustainable processability, has becoming an important challenge to face, especially in the automotive and aerospace industry. Current research efforts in the FRP sector, indeed, are increasingly dealing with reducing the emissions of volatile organic compounds from organic resins, and limiting the energy demand and the environmental impact of the manufacturing process, without affecting the overall performances of the materials. In this framework, with the aim to ensure an optimal balance between performances, sustainability and costs, and allow for a viable industrial scale-up and distribution, an innovative fiber reinforced composite material based on a nanostructured inorganic polymer matrix has been designed. Such composite material shows properties and characteristics halfway between traditional FRPs and CMCs, and is particularly suitable to produce highly engineered structures through a simple, sustainable and low cost process. The hazard-free aqueous based matrix ensures the compliance with the most strict environmental legislations and codes of practice, granting at the same time the possibility of working with the same equipment and within the same process conditions of traditional FRPs. Also, the nanostructured inorganic matrix further boosts the thermostructural properties of the composite, protecting the fibers even in highly oxidizing environments and triggering self-healing mechanisms thanks to the introduction of specific nanostructured ultra-refractory charges. The designed composite might be used as a safe and lightweight thermal barrier with almost completely tunable properties, depending on the composition and the specific post-curing treatments. In general, it grants complete fireproofness and no-smoke emissions, high service temperatures (up to 800 °C), low thermal expansion and good mechanical properties (up to 200 MPa for tensile strength).
Nanostructured inorganic polymer matrices for high temperature resistant fiber reinforced composites
Natali Murri A;Landi E;Medri V
2021
Abstract
Nowadays the need to develop new materials able to combine lightness, mechanical strength and fire protection together with an easy and sustainable processability, has becoming an important challenge to face, especially in the automotive and aerospace industry. Current research efforts in the FRP sector, indeed, are increasingly dealing with reducing the emissions of volatile organic compounds from organic resins, and limiting the energy demand and the environmental impact of the manufacturing process, without affecting the overall performances of the materials. In this framework, with the aim to ensure an optimal balance between performances, sustainability and costs, and allow for a viable industrial scale-up and distribution, an innovative fiber reinforced composite material based on a nanostructured inorganic polymer matrix has been designed. Such composite material shows properties and characteristics halfway between traditional FRPs and CMCs, and is particularly suitable to produce highly engineered structures through a simple, sustainable and low cost process. The hazard-free aqueous based matrix ensures the compliance with the most strict environmental legislations and codes of practice, granting at the same time the possibility of working with the same equipment and within the same process conditions of traditional FRPs. Also, the nanostructured inorganic matrix further boosts the thermostructural properties of the composite, protecting the fibers even in highly oxidizing environments and triggering self-healing mechanisms thanks to the introduction of specific nanostructured ultra-refractory charges. The designed composite might be used as a safe and lightweight thermal barrier with almost completely tunable properties, depending on the composition and the specific post-curing treatments. In general, it grants complete fireproofness and no-smoke emissions, high service temperatures (up to 800 °C), low thermal expansion and good mechanical properties (up to 200 MPa for tensile strength).I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
