New low viscosity, low temperature, Rapid E-Beam Curable Filament Winding resins are now available which meet and exceed state-of-the-art thermally cured filament winding epoxy resin baseline mechanical properties. Initial tests on a 5.75"D test vessel show >5% higher hydro-burst results for ACI's first iteration E-Beam curable formulations (withoutthe need for a special carbon fiber sizing) and with >50C higher Tg vs. a state-of-the-art anhydride thermally cured baseline control (both using 12K IM-7 reinforcement). ACI has already teamed with the largest composite rocket motor case builder in the world to further develop ACI's E-Beam cure resin technology for the next generation of higher burst strength and >50C higher Tg Filament Winding resins. Several attempts, mainly in Europe to make motor cases this way were tried but the free radical type resins had undesirable properties and processing problems. The AEROPLAS breakthrough base resin is <400 cPs at room temperature and (has >6 month 25C out time) for rapid tow wetout and a boasts a cured service temperature greater than 350F. This new resin is particularly suited for low cost fabrication of ultra-large, high quality structures including once-off master tools or co-cured aircraft sections. Anticipated Benefits and
Potential Commercial Applications: These robust new rapid, E-Beam curable, high burst strength, high service temp. filament wound motor case or pultrusion resins have a myriad of aerospace, land and sea craft military applications. There are also enormous commercial; infrastructural, marine craft, recreational equipment, automotive, transportation, and various other markets that can use these >10X faster curing, low viscosity resins.
