Experimental and Analytical Studies on the Solvent Volatilization Behavior of Carbon Fiber/Phenylethynyl Terminated Polyimide Prepreg During Molding

Abstract

Phenylethynyl terminated polyimide “TriA-X†developed in Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) exhibits excellent mechanical properties with high glass transition temperature (> 350°C), therefore it is suitable as matrix resin of high temperature composites. Carbon fiber (CF)/TriA-X prepreg includes about 10 wt.% of NMP (N-methyl-2- pyrrolidone) as solvent. The solvent must be volatilized to make high quality laminates, however experimental and numerical researches regarding the solvent evaporation behavior have not been reported. This study examined the solvent volatilization behavior experimentally. As a result, the anisotropic solvent diffusion behavior was observed. The experimental result suggested the breather cloth around the laminated prepreg affects the solvent volatilization behavior. By considering the solvent diffusion in the laminated prepreg and breather cloth based on Fick’s law, the solvent volatilization behavior was successfully simulated. The numerical results showed good agreement with the experimental results. It was confirmed that the simulation methodology is effective to determine the adequate temperature profile for solvent volatilization process.