Designing a phthalonitrile/benzoxazine blend for the advanced GFRP composite materials

Abstract

High performance resin must be used in the high performance glass fiber-reinforced plastic (GFRP) composites, but it is sometimes difficult to balance the processabilities and the final properties in the design of advanced thermoset GFRP composites. In this study, a phthalonitrile/benzoxazine (PPN/BZ) blend with excellent processability has been designed and applied in the GFRP composite materials. PPN/BZ blend with good solubility, low melt viscosity, appropriate gel condition and low-temperature curing behavior could enable their GFRP composite preparation with the prepreg-laminate method under a relatively mild condition. The resulted PPN/BZ GFRP composites exhibit excellent mechanical properties with flexural strength over 700 MPa and flexural modulus more than 19 GPa. Fracture surface morphologies of the PPN/BZ GFRP composites show that the interfacial adhesion between resin and GF is improved. The temperatures at weight loss 5% (T 5%) and char residue at 800 °C of all PPN/BZ GFRP composites are over 435 °C and 65% respectively. PPN/BZ GFRP composites with high performance characteristics may find applications under some critical circumstances with requirements of high mechanical properties and high service temperatures.