Hughes Aircraft Company

Mcdonnell Douglas Corporation

Robert W Seibold

James O Gibson

Bruce W Buller

William T Weatherill

Robert E Lowe

Haig S Parechanian

Improved fiber reinforced composites having near zero coefficients of thermal expansion are described. The improved composites include reinforcing fibers and matrix material in which gap structures which exist within the composite are filled with a bonding agent. The reinforcing fibers can be unidirectionally, bidirectionally or multidirectionally oriented within the matrix material and articles fabricated from the improved composite have reduced coefficients of thermal expansion in directions transverse to the orientations of the fibers. This improvement makes these improved composites useful for fabricating high energy laser mirror substrates.

Method of making a fiber reinforced ceramic glass composites having

Fiber reinforced ceramic glass composites having tailored coefficient of

Production of composites having increased strength, particularly at elevated temperature, heat resistance and ablative properties, while maintaining low weight, by a process which comprises impregnating fibrous reinforcement, such as a woven fabric of graphite yarns, with a resin, e.g., a phenolic resin, curing the resin to yield a fiber-resin composite, pyrolyzing such composite to convert the resin to a porous carbonaceous matrix, reimpregnating the porous fiber-carbon composite with additional resin, such as a phenolic resin, to fill the pores of the matrix, and curing the reimpregnating resin. The resulting fiber reinforcement-resin matrix-carbon matrix (i.e., bimatrix) composites are particularly useful and valuable as reinforced plastic aerospace components requiring strength at high temperatures and having improved ablative properties.

Fiber-resin-carbon composites and method of fabrication

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Santa Monica, CA, United States of America

Robert W Seibold