Thermal degradation glass fiber reinforcement

Zhuge, J., Gou, J., Chen, R.-H., Kapat, J., 2012b. Finite difference analysis of thermal response and post-fire flexural degradation of glass fiber reinforced composites coated with carbon nanofiber based nanopapers. Composites Part A Applied Science and Manufacturing 43, 2278-2288. 

Table 16.4 shows that glass fiber-reinforced SPS/nylon blends start to lose strength and elongation in the Class IV thermal stability test. In practice, the connectors exposed to this testing have maintained their functionality with no degradation in performance. 

PEI resins reinforced with up to 40 wt % fiber glass are available. The American Cyanamid Co. uses an Ultem-type resin with carbon fibers to form their Cypac 1000 series prepregs (31). The moisture content of the resin must be less than 0.05% prior to melt processing to minimise thermal degradation. 

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