Due to a demand by the aerospace industry, NASA has begun developing the next generation of polyimide foams which will be utilized to reduce vehicle weight for the X-33 Program and Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Program. The research activity at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) focuses on developing foam and foam structures which are made from a polyimide using monomeric solutions or salt solutions formed from the reaction of a dianhydride dissolved in a mixture of foaming agents and alkyl alcohols at room temperature. This process can produce polyimide foams with varying properties from a large number of monomers and monomer blends. The specific densities of these foams can range from 0.008g/cc to 0.32g/cc. Polyimide foams at densities 0.032g/cc and 0.08g/cc were tested for a wide range of physical properties. The foams demonstrated excellent thermal stability at 321 deg C, good thermal conductivity at 25 deg C of 0.0003 W/cm-K, compressive strengths as high as 0.84 MPa at 10% deflection, and a limiting oxygen index of 51%. Thermomechanical cyclic testing was also performed on these materials for 50 cycles at temperatures from -253 deg C to 204 deg C. The foams survived the cyclic testing without debonding or cracking.
High temperature polyimide foams for aerospace vehicles
2002
15 Seiten, 9 Bilder, 3 Tabellen, 8 Quellen
Conference paper
English
High temperature polyimide foams for aerospace vehicles
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