Mesophase pitch-based carbon fiber for improved inflammability of CFRP
- Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. Functional Material Co., Tokyo (Japan). Carbon Fiber and Advanced Materials Composite Div.
- Mitsubishi Chemical Corp., Yokohama (Japan). Advanced Composite Materials Lab.
Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics (CFRP) are extensively used because of their favorable physical properties such as high strength-to-weight ratio and small thermal expansion. However, flammability of CFRP has limited their application especially in the transportation and industrial field. Exposed to flame, CFRP laminates made of PAN-based carbon fibers burst into flame in short time, while CFRP laminates made from mesophase pitch-based carbon fibers don`t burst into flame. This paper describes the experimental results of local heating test by gas burner. When the flame temperature was 1,000 C, a CFRP laminate made from PAN-based carbon fiber burned within 40 sec. Under the same condition, a CFRP laminate made from mesophase pitch-based carbon fiber didn`t burn in 10 min. The matrix resin of both laminates was 250 F curable epoxy resin. This behavior mainly depends upon the thermal conductivity of the carbon fibers. The mesophase pitch-based carbon fibers have high thermal conductivity, so they can diffuse thermal energy and lower laminate surface temperature. On the other hand, PAN-based carbon fibers have low thermal conductivity, so they can`t diffuse thermal energy enough, and the laminates made from them burn easily. Mechanical properties of CFRP during local heating test in comparison with Aluminum plate are also discussed.
- OSTI ID:
- 109726
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-950521--; ISBN 1-56676-313-4
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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