Durability of a continuous strand mat polymeric composite for automotive structural applications
A key unanswered question that must be addressed before polymeric composites will be widely used in automotive structural components is their durability. Major durability issues are the effects of cyclic loadings, creep, automotive environments, and low-energy impacts on dimensional stability, strength, and stiffness. The U.S. Department of Energy is sponsoring a project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to address these issues and to develop, in cooperation with the Automotive Composites Consortium, experimentally based, durability driven, design guidelines. The initial reference material is an isocyanurate reinforced with a continuous strand, swirl glass mat. This paper describes the basic deformation and failure behavior of the reference material, and it presents test results illustrating the property degradations caused by loading, time, and environmental effects. The importance of characterizing and understanding damage and how it leads to failure is also discussed. The results presented are from the initial phases of an ongoing project. The ongoing effort and plans are briefly described.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 172087
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9511141-2; ON: DE96003762; TRN: 96:000962
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 11. annual advanced composites conference, Dearborn, MI (United States), 6-9 Nov 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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