Fabrication and characterization of filament wound elastomeric matrix composite materials

Elastomeric matrix composite materials have unique mechanical characteristics which make them attractive candidates for advanced flywheels and other design problems where extremely high resistance to matrix cracking with respect to strain is needed. A method of rapidly manufacturing filament wound rings and tubes of glass and carbon fiber reinforced polyurethane composite is described in this paper. The filament winding method involves the on-line impregnation of dry fiber tows with liquid matrix which is mixed with a solvent to achieve proper viscosity. The solvent is removed by heat flashing and the wet tows are deposited on a heated, rotating mandrel. The radial rate of deposition and temperature of the mandrel are chosen to gel the matrix on the fly and prevent fiber wrinkling for large radial thicknesses of material. Both hoop and helical windings of structures are included in this paper. Physical characteristics of the materials such as fiber and void contents are determined, along with thermo-mechanical properties such as stiffnesses, strengths, ultimate strains, and coefficients of thermal expansion. Predictions of helical-wound tube properties are made based on measurements of unidirectional properties. It is demonstrated that high quality rings and tubes can be efficiently manufactured by methods described in the paper.