SBIR Phase I: Liquid Crystalline Thermoset (LCT) Adhesives for High-Temperature Applications

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*** 96-60674 Hoyt This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project aims to develop adhesives with thermal and mechanical properties suitable for applications in the aerospace industry. The ideal requirements for these materials are rather stringent. The materials must exhibit high strength and high fracture toughness, good chemical resistance and long-term thermal stability somewhere in the range 150 C-370 C. While there is a significant research effort in high-temperature adhesives, currently available materials fall well short of the ideal requirements. We propose to investigate liquid crystalline thermoses (LCT) systems to be applied as adhesives suitable for use in high-temperature, high-performance environments. LCTs, like their liquid crystalline polymer (LOP) analogues, are expected to offer significant enhancements in thermal and mechanical properties and chemical resistance over their non-liquid crystalline counterparts. In addition, the inherent low melt viscosity of liquid crystalline materials should bring about several processing advantages in adhesive applications. The materials investigated will be generally modeled on known examples of melt-processable or thermotropic LCTs. Reactive endgroups will be chosen based on standards in the industry; some proprietary endgroups will be tested. The major product of Phase I is the data required for system optimization and extended bond testing in Phase II. These data should also provide information on structure-property relationships in LCTs and for adhesives in general. If this work is successful, a new type of adhesive for high-temperature applications should be realized. While the application of these materials is initially focused on the aerospace industry, there is potential for use in other areas such as lightweight structural materials for bridges and in high speed transportation systems. *** ??