Antioxidant Fiber Finishes for Polyimide-Matrix Composites

Polyimide-matrix/carbon-fiber composite materials with enhanced thermo-oxidative stability can be made from carbon fibers that have been coated with suitably formulated reactive finishing materials. These finishing materials were developed out of a need to increase thermo-oxidative stability of composite materials for high-temperature applications, and in response to the observation that thermo-oxidative degradation of polyimide-matrix/carbon-fiber composites is dominated by phenomena that occur at matrix/fiber interfaces.