Assessing the Feasibility of Producing Ultra-light Weight Kevlar Composites through Epoxy HPRTM Technology

DuPontTM芳纶®是杜邦公司发明的一种对位芳纶纤维，可在纺织和复合材料应用中提供高强度、轻量化和耐热性。多年来，芳纶®仅用于军事应用，主要是因为其优异的机械性能以及供应有限。然而，最近凯夫拉®产量的增加使其在民用领域得到了广泛的应用。从材料的角度来看，芳纶®具有优异的机械性能、良好的耐火性和极低的密度。这些特性使芳纶®对汽车、轨道交通或航空航天等众多行业极具吸引力。然而，为了在民用工业中使用芳纶®，还没有确定能够大量生产芳纶®增强复合材料的合适技术。一旦找到了这种制造途径，就必须对所得到的复合材料的机械性能进行评估，以便更好地满足未来民用客户的需求。为了解决这一问题，杜邦通过目前的提案表达了与西方大学和弗劳恩霍夫项目中心的研究人员合作的兴趣，试图测试新的HPRTM技术用于凯夫拉增强复合材料制造的可行性。如果成功，这一制造途径可能会在相关组织之间开辟一系列新的合作活动，然后对整个加拿大制造业产生有利的下游影响。

DuPontTM Kevlar® is a para-aramid fiber invented by DuPont to provide high strength, lightweight and heatstability properties in textile and composite applications. For many years, Kevlar® was solely used in militaryapplications, primarily due to its superior mechanical properties as well as its limited availability. However, therecent increased production of Kevlar® has made it widely available for civil applications. From a materialstandpoint, Kevlar® is characterized by superior mechanical properties, good fire resistance and very lowdensity. These characteristics make Kevlar® extremely attractive to numerous industries such as automotive,rail transportation or aerospace. However, in order to use Kevlar® in civil industry, an adequate technology forhigh-volume fabrication of Kevlar® reinforced composites is yet to be identified. Once this manufacturing pathhas been found, the mechanical properties of the resulting composite will have to be evaluated in order to bettertarget the needs of the future civil customers. To address this, DuPont has expressed - through the currentproposal - interest in partnering up with researchers from Western University and Fraunhofer Project Center inan attempt to test the feasibility of the new HPRTM technology for Kevlar-reinforced composite fabrication. Ifsuccessful, this fabrication avenue could open up a new spectrum of collaboration activities between theinvolved organizations to be then followed by beneficial downstream effects for the entire Canadianmanufacturing sector.