Biobased Carbon Fibers and Thermosetting Resins for Use in DOD Composites Applications

The use of biological resources to make advanced fibers and high-performance thermosetting resins will help reduce the dependence of military composites on the volatile cost of petroleum, result in significant technological gains, and reduce toxicity of composite materials.

Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland

The goal of this research is to explore the use of renewable resources derived from plants and other sources to prepare high-performance carbon fiber and thermosetting matrix resins with high-strength and high-thermal resistance. The scientific objectives of this work are to 1) develop methods for breaking down, modifying, and processing renewable resources to make epoxy resins, vinyl resins, and carbon fibers and 2) determine structure-property relationships for these novel materials.

Bacteria can successfully decompose lignin into useable structures for the formation of small filaments that might be able to be converted into carbon fibers. Approximately 300 strains of bacteria that decompose lignin were identified, and some have the potential to make lignin into fiber-forming oligomers, including newly identified species of Serratia. However, scale-up of this process proved problematic and unfeasible for completion in this project.