Predicting Thermooxidative Degradation and Performance of High-Temperature Polymer Matrix Composites

Polymer matrix composites (PMCs) used in aerospace high-temperature applications, such as turbine engines and engine-exhaust-washed structures, are known to have limited life due to environmental degradation. Predicting the extended service life of composite structures subjected to mechanical, high temperature, moisture, and corrosive conditions is challenging due to the complex physical, chemical, and thermomechanical mechanisms involved. Additionally, the constituent phases of the material, in particular the matrix phase, continuously evolve with aging time. It is the agingdependent evolution of the constituent properties that makes prediction of the long-term performance of PMCs in high-temperature environments so challenging. A comprehensive prediction methodology must deal with several complications presented by the highly coupled material aging, damage evolution, and thermooxidation processes.

Authors and Affiliations

1. US Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH, USA

   G. A. Schoeppner

2. University of Dayton Research Institute, Dayton, OH, USA

   G. P. Tandon

3. Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ, USA

   K. V. Pochiraju

Editors and Affiliations

1. Naval Postgraduate School, 93943, Monterey, CA, USA

   Young W. Kwon

2. University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 68588, Lincoln, NE, USA

   David H. Allen

3. Texas A&M University, 3141, 77843-3141, College Station, TX, USA

   Ramesh Talreja

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