Silicone resin based composites interleaved for improved toughness
AssigneeDow Corning Corporation
InventorsFrederick J. McGarry, Bizhong Zhu, Dimitris E. Katsoulis
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Fiber reinforced silicone matrix resin based composites are made more resistant to delamination by incorporating a suitably tough, lower modulus silicone resin, different from said matrix resin, between each fiber layer of the composite. Preferably, woven mats of glass or carbon fibers impregnated with a desired silicone matrix resin are coated with a precursor of the tougher interleaf silicone resin. The resulting laminate of alternating matrix resin-fiber layers and interleaved layers of the tougher silicone resin provides a tougher silicone based composite.
Claims11
A fiber reinforced, silicone matrix resin composite comprising:
- a plurality of layers of fibers, each layer of fibers being impregnated with said silicone matrix resin, wherein said silicone matrix is a rigid resin;
- and a layer of silicone resin interleaved between each of said impregnated fiber layers, wherein the silicone resin has a lower modulus of elasticity and higher toughness than said matrix resin.
A method of making a fiber reinforced, silicone matrix resin composite, said method comprising
- impregnating at least one layer of reinforcing fibers with a curable silicone matrix resin to form a plurality of matrix resin coated fiber layers, said silicone matrix resin being substantially rigid upon curing;
- spraying a layer of a curable silicone resin as a substantially coextensive compliant coating, thinner than said matrix resin coated fiber layer, on one side of each of said matrix resin coated fiber layers, said sprayed silicone resin upon curing having a lower Young's modulus than said cured silicone matrix resin;
- stacking a plurality of said spray coated, matrix resin coated fiber layers and molding said layers while curing said resins to form said silicone matrix resin composite with interleaved layers of said lower modulus silicone resin.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.