Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer Specimens Research Articles

Effect of Internal Technological Defects and Loading Waveform on Structural Composite Fatigue Life

This paper explores the effect of internal technological defects on the fatigue life of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) under simple loading waveforms. One conducted experiments on CFRP specimens with embedded artificial defects, including delamination’s (circular dry-spot) and wrinkling. Following quasi-static tests, one developed a fatigue testing program using triangular and sine waveforms. The findings indicate that these simple waveforms do not significantly affect the fatigue resistance of defect-free CFRP or CFRP with internal technological defects. The presence of the wrinkling defect significantly diminishes the fatigue resistance of CFRP. However, constructing fatigue life curves in relative terms reveals that the reduction in fatigue properties is directly related to a decrease in strength properties. In the case of delamination (dry-spot) defects, a reduction in fatigue life by approximately 2.5 times was observed across the tested range.

Investigating the role of fibre-matrix interfacial degradation on the ageing process of carbon fibre-reinforced polymer under hydrothermal conditions

The aqueous environment can deteriorate the fibre-matrix interface of carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP), significantly impairing the non-fibre-dominated mechanical properties. Thus, this study aimed to quantitatively analyse the impact of interfacial degradation on the hydrothermal ageing mechanism and process of the CFRP. Firstly, entire water absorption process of the CFRP under hydrothermal conditions was divided into three stages according to experimental measurement of its water content. Based on this division of stages, a novel water diffusion model was established for the hydrothermally aged CFRP. To measure the mechanical degradation, tensile tests were conducted on unaged, aged, and redried neat epoxy and transversely positioned unidirectional (UD) CFRP specimens. It was found that the transverse tensile strength degradation of UD CFRP was irreversible due to the permanent interfacial debonding between the fibres and matrix, in contrast to the reversible ageing of the epoxy matrix. To further quantify the fibre-matrix interfacial ageing, physically-based models were established for the degraded interfacial strength of CFRP subjected to hydrothermal conditions. After the characterization of the modelling coefficients, the physically-based models can be employed to predict interfacial strength inside the aged CFRP for various ageing durations. The prediction error was only 4.57% for the transverse tensile strength of degraded UD CFRP with various ageing durations from the representative volume element (RVE) simulation with its interfacial strength provided by the physically-based models, validating the effectiveness of the proposed physically-based models for degraded fibre-matrix interface under various ageing conditions.

Detection and characterization of hole processing defects in carbon fiber-reinforced polymer

Abstract The defects of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) during the drilling process will affect the mechanical properties and service life of the components. We investigate the detection and characterization of delamination and burr defects after drilling CFRP. The drilling test was conducted on CFRP specimens, followed by image processing software to detect and extract the resulting defects. Subsequently, a more accurate two-dimensional quantitative characterization of the extracted delamination and burr defects was performed. Finally, by comprehensively considering the quality indexes of delamination and burr defects, a comprehensive evaluation factor that can fully reflect the hole-making defects is established to provide a theoretical basis and technical support for enhancing CFRP’s hole-making quality.

The impact of using prestressed CFRP bars on the development of flexural strength

Abstract The load-carrying capacity and ductility of conventional steel reinforcement may be greatly increased by using ordinary and prestressed carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) bars, resulting in reinforced concrete structures with greater sturdiness. This research investigates the flexural behavior of CFRP-prestressed beams with bonded tendons as opposed to conventional steel-prestressed beams. This article examines a less explored topic that often fails because post-tensioned beams with unbonded CFRP tendons are crushed by concrete. The linear-elastic behavior of CFRP accounts for much of the experimentally observed considerable variations in flexural characteristics between CFRP and steel-prestressed beams. Compared to unbonded CFRP specimens, bonded CFRP specimens are much stronger. Our knowledge of CFRP reinforcement in concrete infrastructure is advanced by this work, which highlights the need for better design techniques to increase strength and ductility. It is recommended that CFRP bars be bonded with epoxy resin to restrict fast energy dissipation and avoid concrete failure. As a result, CFRP-reinforced concrete beams will react less linearly and more ductilely. CFRP may improve prestressed concrete beam performance and lifespan in a number of scenarios, as shown by comparative research with traditional steel reinforcement. Six 1,800–mm-long RC beams with a 200 × 300 mm cross-section were examined and divided into three groups, analyzing important loading phases (i.e., cracked, ultimate, and mid-span deflection) using CFRP bars as prestressed tendons to replace the bottom steel rebars. The load-carrying capabilities and ductility of CFRP-reinforced beams were much greater than those of the reference beam. A single beam using normal CFRP bars for reinforcement showed a 21.2 mm mid-span deflection and an ultimate load of 157.2 kN, with a 57.7-kN fractured load. Another beam with normal CFRP bars also showed enhanced performance, with a mid-span deflection of 21.2 mm, an ultimate load of 160.6 kN, and a cracking load of 57.5 kN.

Robot-based dynamic optics scanning infrared thermography for debonding defect detection of big-sized CFRP specimen

ABSTRACT The use of infrared thermography (IRT) for non-destructive testing (NDT) of large aerospace composites, such as carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP), is often limited by the narrow field of view infrared cameras. This paper experimentally investigates the big-sized CFRP specimens with simulated debonding defects using a robot-based dynamic optics scanning infrared thermography (RDOS-IRT) method to meet these issues. Then, static pulse IRT and RDOS-IRT were performed, and the processing performance of different algorithms (pulsed phase thermography, PPT; total harmonic distortion, THD; matched filtering, MF; and supervised dimensionality reduction, SDR) on pulsed IRT was discussed. A combination of pseudo-static matrix reconstruction (FSMR) algorithm and static image sequence processing algorithm is innovatively adopted to improve the defect detection performance of RDOS-IRT results. The experiments show that the RDOS-IRT method with FSMR and static image sequence processing algorithm is effective; moreover, it has almost a similar detection ability compared to the traditional static pulse IRT method in practical applications and saves more time. Results show that the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the repeated defects is not differentiated, and the detection effect is similar. Therefore, the RDOS-IRT method is a reliable tool for NDT tasks on big-sized CFRP specimens and can be practically applied in an industrial setting for high detection efficiency.

Identification of interfacial strength between carbon fiber and epoxy matrix in CFRP laminates using pulse laser spallation method

Carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) have high specific strength and specific stiffness and are used in various fields such as aircraft, space structures, automobiles, and other transportation equipment. Since the internal structure of CFRP is very complex, it is very difficult to define failure criteria when external loads are applied. Various methods have been proposed to evaluate the interfacial shear strength between carbon fiber and resin matrix, such as microbond test, rupture test, and pull-out test, but currently no effective method has been proposed to evaluate the tensile strength of the CF/resin interface. In this study, we applied the pulsed laser spallation method, which has been confirmed to be effective for evaluating the adhesion strength of thin films and coating films on substrates, to the evaluation of CFRP. A finite element method based on the Laplace transform was used for the numerical analysis of the unsteady elastodynamic problem. The macroscopic stresses generated by ultrasonic waves excited by pulsed laser irradiation were calculated by inverse analysis using a transfer function with the displacement history of the back surface of the CFRP specimen as supplementary information. Microscopic stresses at the fiber/resin interface were evaluated by the homogenization method, taking into account the effects of fiber arrangement, distance between fibers, and molding residual stress in unidirectionally reinforced CFRP laminates. As a result, this series of investigations revealed that the vertical interfacial stress is dominant with respect to the strength of the fiber/resin interface with the strength of about 54MPa.

Accurate synthesis of sensor-to-machined-surface image generation in carbon fiber-reinforced plastic drilling

Delamination is a prevalent issue in carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) drilling, significantly compromising the mechanical properties of the material. Considering that delamination can impact the long-term durability of the final products, it is essential for operators to promptly identify it. This paper proposes a machined surface image generation model, called Sensor2Image, that employs time-series force sensor data as input and generates drilled-hole surface images as output. Sensor2Image first encodes the force sensor data into images using the Gramian angular field (GAF) method. Subsequently, it applies an image-to-image translation technique to generate the final machined surface images. The proposed model was trained and evaluated using experimental data gathered from drilling CFRP specimens under an industrial robot machining system. The results demonstrated the versatility of the proposed model for practical applications, regardless of the delamination factor. The proposed method offers significant advantages over existing methods through its intuitive visual representation approach. It facilitates the visual inspection of delamination while enabling surface quality analysis of the drilled hole and identification of defects or irregularities that may impact the mechanical properties of the material. The proposed approach can enhance the efficiency and reliability of industrial processes, particularly those involving complex delamination factors. It is a valuable tool for optimizing the CFRP drilling process and enhancing drilled-hole quality in a user-friendly manner.

EHSGNet: A novel edge and high-level semantic guided network for CFRP subsurface defects detection

Infrared thermography, due to its fast detection speed, low cost, and intuitive results, is widely used in carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) materials detection. However, CFRP infrared image noise and lower resolution lead to intrinsic similarly and edge disruption, making it impossible to obtain satisfactory results. Additionally, the current methods require a lot of preprocessing and post-processing operations. Since camouflaged object detection has achieved good results in solving intrinsic similarly and edge disruption. Therefore, this paper proposes an edge and high-level semantic guided network (EHSGNet) based on camouflaged object detection for infrared thermography CFRP subsurface defect detection, achieving end-to-end detection of CFRP. This paper also constructed a dataset containing CFRP samples with both natural defects and artificially simulated internal defects to validate our method. Since the temperature change is achieved in the temperature-controlled chamber by means of hot air heating, it can heat the sample uniformly and improve the quality of CFRP infrared images, so our experiments will be carried out in the temperature-controlled chamber. The experiments were conducted on CFRP specimens with different sizes, shapes and depths of artificial defects. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed EHSGNet outperforms current approaches significantly on our dataset, with precision (PRC) and recall (RCL) reaching 94.3% and 93.1%, respectively.

Durability of externally strengthened concrete prisms with CFRP laminates and galvanized steel mesh attached with epoxy adhesives and mortar

The long-term bond degradation and strength retention of flexural bond prisms strengthened with carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite and galvanized steel mesh (GSM) systems, bonded to concrete using epoxy adhesives and cement-based mortar under aggressive conditioning regimes are compared in this paper. Notched prisms strengthened using low-cord density steel mesh (LSM) with epoxy (SME-strengthened) and cement mortar (SMM-strengthened), and CFRP-epoxy systems were weathered under saline water and direct sunlight for a period of 28 and 540 days. The results of the study were analyzed based on experimentally obtained ultimate load (Pu) values and empirically calculated average bond shear stress (τavg) and prism strength retention (Rp) values. The bond strength degraded by 39 and 34 % in CFRP strengthened, 2.9 and 33 % in SME strengthened, and 2.8 and 10.8 % in SMM-strengthened specimens following the 540-day exposure to saline water and direct sunlight, respectively. The average prism retention ratio was calculated to be 0.61 and 0.66 for CFRP-strengthened, 0.97 and 0.67 for SME-strengthened, and 0.97 and 0.89 for SMM-strengthened specimens after 540 days of saline water and direct sunlight exposure. Flexural prism environment strength reduction factors (CE) were proposed as 0.60, 0.95, and 0.95 for CFRP, SME, and SMM-strengthened specimens under saline water exposures and 0.65, 0.65, and 0.85 for CFRP, SME, and SMM strengthened specimens under direct sunlight exposures. Saline water exposure was observed to be most critical to all strengthening systems. Although CFRP-strengthened specimens showed minimum degradation in load-carrying capacity under both conditioning regimes, they showed maximum bond strength reduction in contrast to SMM-strengthened specimens. It was observed that the choice of bonding agent significantly influenced the extent of bond strength degradation under extreme exposure regimes, like those that prevail in the UAE and the Persian Gulf.

A unified geometrical modeling and analysis method for evaluating CFRP machining performance: Cutting geometry space

Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) is extensively utilized in the cutting-edge industries, attributed to its superior mechanical performances. The machining performance of CFRP, however, is significantly influenced by its pronounced anisotropy, particularly the fiber orientation. Consequently, Fiber Cutting Angle (FCA) is widely employed to assess the relationships between cutting geometry and machining performance, yet the coupling of cutting orientation and fiber orientation, along with the absence of feeding angle, limits the further exploration into the underlying mechanisms. This article introduced a novel geometrical framework termed “Cutting Geometry Space” (CGS), for modeling CFRP machining process. Incorporating feeding orientation, cutting orientation and fiber orientation, CGS is applied in milling process for an enhanced comprehension of cutting geometry. Additionally, a pragmatic milling experiment is designed, efficiently evaluating the performances of 1092 combinations of CGS parameters in 13 T700-12K/epoxy CFRP specimens. Microscopical observations and morphological analyses reveals four predominant fracture mechanisms in CFRP machining, with fiber-matrix debonding and bending-induced fracture identified as the key contributors to macroscopic cavity formation. A designated "Damage Zone" within the CGS, encompassing a cutting angle range of 90°–270° and a fiber tilt angle of 15°–60°, is identified as a high-risk area for machining-induced surface cavities. Additionally, the impact of feeding orientation on the surface integrity is confirmed and explained by the influence on the equivalent FCA. Furthermore, the study elucidates chatter marks as a phenomenon induced by a confluence of factors, including generalized down milling, high FCA, and a significant effective cutting fiber count. The observed shift in chatter mark with varying feeding angles provides deep insights into the complex dynamics of machining parameters.

A reflectance-correction retinex framework for thermal image enhancement in nondestructive defect detection of CFRP

To ensure the quality of materials, pulsed thermography (PT) is an effective technique to detect the presence of internal defects in carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP). However, non-uniform thermal excitation during the testing often leads to uneven heat distribution within the original thermal images, and the limited heat absorption by the surface of specimen may cause low-contrast defect signals that further impair the identification of defects. In response to these challenges, this study introduces an enhancement framework, termed Reflectance-Correction Retinex (RCR). In the RCR framework, the single-scale Retinex method is first applied to equalize the non-uniform background within a thermal image, and a sigmoid modification is proposed to adaptively amplify the contrast between defects and their background. The RCR framework is tested on PT images of man-made CFRP specimens. The experimental results show that our proposed method substantially enhances the visual quality of PT images, which facilitates precision and reliability in defect detection applications.

On the low-velocity impact properties of CFRP/HAFRP interlayer hybrid fibre composite laminates

Hybrid fibre-reinforced polymer composites have been increasingly utilised in key engineering fields, such as the manufacture of aerospace structures, due to their high specific strength, stiffness, and design flexibility. This paper attempts to investigate the low-velocity impact performance and residual strength after impact of hybrid composites consisting of carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) and heterocyclic aramid fibre-reinforced polymer (HAFRP). Since carbon fibres are brittle and vulnerable to impact loading despite their ultra-high strength, the aim of this study was to enhance the impact resistance of CFRP by hybridising it with high-toughness heterocyclic aramid fibres. The influence of hybrid layup configuration on the performance of both low-velocity impact and compression after impact (CAI) was explored. Four types of specimens, including pure CFRP and hybrid CFRP/HAFRP laminates with different layups, were manufactured and tested. Drop-weight impact tests were conducted on the specimens under impact energies of 25 J, 30 J and 40 J to measure the impact response, such as force-displacement and energy absorption curves. The internal impact damage was then assessed by ultrasonic C-scan method. The compressive strengths of specimens were measured both before and after low-velocity impact. The results indicated that hybrid laminates had better impact resistance than pure CFRP specimens, and the reduction in the compressive strength after impact for pure CFRP specimens was 2–4 times that of hybrid specimens. Therefore, hybridisation of heterocyclic aramid fibre with carbon fibre in composite laminates can retain high strength of carbon fibre while benefiting from the excellent fracture toughness of heterocyclic aramid fibre.

Structural fuses in composite structures: Engineered crack paths in carbon fibre-reinforced polymers

We designed engineered carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) solutions for realising structural fuses in real CFRP composite components. We developed various concepts of engineered crack paths containing micro-cut patterns (MCPs) aiming to investigate how we can engage and trigger various damage propagation mechanisms both in-plane and through-the-thickness. To this end, we chose ultra-thin CFRP prepregs and engraved various designed MCPs/crack path combinations on them during layup with the help of a laser micro-machining system. Then, we manufactured CFRP specimens containing engineered crack paths and characterised them under a 3-point bending (3PB) test to evaluate their response in an out-of-plane loading scenario. We investigated various design parameters of the developed MCPs through 9 studies to understand how various parameters determine the damage propagation mechanisms and what effect they have on fracture properties. Following this, we performed fractography analysis to observe the failure mechanisms triggered by the implemented MCPs/crack path combinations in the tested specimens. The results demonstrate that carefully designed MCPs can tailor the failure load and energy dissipation, and moreover, provide significant control over the fracture locus and path.

Experimental study on the mechanical property of carbon fiber reinforced polymer with the combined application of digital twin and reduced order algorithm

AbstractRecognizing the anisotropy of mechanical property transfer between carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) layers, a unidirectional reduced‐order model (UROM) is proposed to comprehensively express the mechanical properties of each layer. A crucial focus is on effectively analyzing the real‐time mechanical properties of CFRP specimens, particularly in accurately identifying and predicting the interlaminar mechanical states of anisotropic CFRP laminated specimens. Moreover, the multi fidelity surrogate (MFS) is employed to replace the computationally intensive model, amalgamating high‐fidelity sensor data with low‐fidelity data obtained from the UROM. The UROM MFS is used to reduce the amount of data in the same layer of CFRP laminates, while preserving the characteristics between different layers and preserving the interlaminar information of CFRP laminates. Finally, the stress prediction results of the UROM MFS and the unreduced MFS model were compared and analyzed. The real‐time response speed of the u‐ROM MFS digital twin (DT) model was increased by 658%. The UROM MFS DT model effectively captures the mechanical properties of each layer of CFRP laminates, enables quick calculation of model parameters, and provides accurate predictions.Highlights First, the interlayer mechanical property of CFRP is analyzed with the combined application of experimental data, DT model, and UROM MFS. Second, MFS is employed to merge high‐fidelity sensor data of CFPR laminate with low‐fidelity data obtained from UROM. Third, the digital twin framework for CFPR laminate with high response speed and calculation accuracy is proposed.

Titanium/FRP hybrid sandwich: in-plane flexural behaviour of short beam specimens

Adopting novel sandwich structures with FRP (Fibre Reinforced Polymer) skins and a metallic lattice core, both of which have high specific strength and stiffness, is one way to achieve better mechanical performance while remaining lightweight. Flexural stress is a load pattern that frequently occurs in the structural frame components of automobiles; nonetheless, while the in-plane load scheme has scarcely been examined, the out-of-plane load one has. As a result, the former configuration received consideration in this work. Moreover, short beam specimens were taken into account. The mechanical response of specimens with three different kinds of composite materials as skin material was analysed. The skins were made of CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer), with two different weaving styles, and AFRP (Aramid Fiber Reinforced Polymer). All-titanium specimens were studied, too. Similar maximum loads and maximum displacement at break were recorded for both CFRP and AFRP specimens, while the all-titanium one resulted stronger. In terms of the load-displacement curves, the first section featured an initial linear phase, followed by a minor load drop, likely attributed to the breakage of fibres. The CFRP specimens showed a sharp fracture of the skin fibres, while for the AFRP, a fraying was observed.

Influence of carbon fibre orientation and heat flux on the thermomechanical response of CFRP using small-scale apparatus

This study uses a small-scale apparatus to investigate the influence of carbon fibre orientation and heat flux on the thermomechanical response of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP). The proposed test apparatus allows the thermomechanical behaviour, relating to the mechanical performance degradation with particular surface temperature and temperature gradient of a CFRP, to be investigated. The motivation of this study is to understand the mechanical response of load-bearing CFRP materials during heating using a cone heater. Experiments were performed on CFRP specimens produced in four unique lay-ups to study their thermomechanical bending behaviour in terms of failure times, displacement, temperature distribution and failure modes. The results from this study show that different fibre orientations respond differently to thermomechanical loads. For example, it is observed that CFRP containing uni-directional [90°] fibres demonstrate the worst overall load-bearing response to thermomechanical loading conditions. In contrast, woven bi-directional [0°, 90°] fibres demonstrate the best. Uni-directional [0°] fibres and unwoven multi-directional [0°, ±45°, 90°] fibres present a modest overall load-bearing response to thermomechanical loading conditions. These results demonstrate that it is possible to systematically evaluate the performance of different fibre lay-ups and relate the failures to heating of the solid to the glass transition temperature and decomposition temperature of the polymer matrix.

Textile-based strain sensors for fiber-reinforced composites under tension, compression and bending

Abstract This research addresses the challenging task of monitoring the structural integrity of fiber-reinforced composite (FRC) components under complex loading conditions. Ensuring the safety and functionality of these components is critical but economically challenging. Therefore, this study presents an innovative approach using textile-based strain sensors that are cost-effective and structurally compatible with carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) components. The investigation includes the systematic electromechanical characterization and comparison of four different sensor materials at the yarn and composite scale in various test scenarios. Cyclic tensile, compression, and bending tests of CFRP specimens are performed and show good reproducibility of sensor signals within the elastic range, with significant agreement observed with applied strain measurement methods, particularly in tensile tests. Although there are minor deviations in compression and bending evaluations, the signals are still meaningful for in-situ detection of complex loading patterns, crack initiation, and structural failure. The study demonstrates that the integration of textile-based sensor yarns allows for continuous structural health monitoring (SHM) of CFRP components under various loading scenarios, including tensile, bending, and especially compressive loads.

Numerical crashworthiness analysis of 2014 Aluminium-Silicon Carbide Particle (SiCp) foam filled Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) tube under impact loading

Aluminium foam and Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) are widely used composite materials in automobile industries due to the benefits of lightweight and energy absorption capacity. Therefore, in this study, the numerical crashworthiness analysis of 2014 Aluminium-SiCp (2014AA-SiCp) foam filled in CFRP tube has been performed under impact loading. Quasi-static compression tests have been conducted on 2014AA-SiCp foam to extract the mechanical parameters required for numerical simulations. To understand the crushing behavior under the axial impact loading, 2014AA-SiCp foam-filled CFRP tube has been numerically modelled using ABAQUS® software. The parametric study was carried out to explore the effects of filler material, foam densities, and impact velocities on crushing behavior. It was found that load increases with the rise in foam density and impact velocity. Moreover, the deformation increases with the increase in impact velocity. Results showed that the load carrying capacity of foam filled CFRP tubes was significantly improved compared to that of empty CFRP tubes. The foam filled CFRP specimens exhibited peak load of 122 kN and an energy absorption capacity of 3012 J, showcasing an approximate improvement of 43% and 11% respectively, over the values obtained for empty CFRP tubes.

Shear Capacity of RC Beam with Opening Strengthened Using CFRP Sheet and Plate

This paper investigates the use of carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets and plates for the bi-directional reinforcement of reinforced concrete beamswith transverse single and double symmetrical openings. The dimensions of the under-reinforced specimens are 1900mm in length, 150mm in width, and 300mm in height, with 3H12 tension reinforcement, 2H6 compression reinforcement, and R6-300 stirrups. This study aims to compare the maximal shear capacity of each CFRP configuration to that of conventional beams andevaluate the deflection profiles, failure modes, strain distribution, and crack patterns under shear loads. The beams are created using in-situ casting, and the openings are treated using post-drilling techniques to simulate real-world procedures. The beam specimens are subjected to a four-point stress test following the application of Sikadur-330 and CFRP. The principal findings indicate that the application of CFRP sheets increases the ultimate shear strength compared to conventional beams with openings, whereas the application of CFRP plates has the opposite effect. Nevertheless, the control beam with no openings has the greatest ultimate shear capacity. In addition, the sheet reinforced CFRP specimens exhibit less deflection than the control beam and conventional beams. The use of both CFRP sheets and plates aids in the transition from shear failure to flexural failure.

Physical and mechanical properties of nano-modified polybenzoxazine nanocomposite laminates: Pre-flight tests before exposure to low Earth orbit

Polybenzoxazine (PBZ) formulations based on commercial components and modified with polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS, 5 wt% and 10 wt%) have been scaled up for industrialisation, and their processing characteristics determined using thermal analysis and rheometry. The ultimate glass transition temperatures for the cured PBZ resins are increased by catalysis and by the incorporation of POSS. Carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates (500 mm × 500 mm x 3 mm) were manufactured using resin transfer moulding and subjected to a suite of mechanical tests. The addition of 5 wt% POSS to the PBZ formulation leads to substantial improvements in both strength (tensile, flexural, short beam shear, and compression) and modulus (tensile, flexural, and compression). The CFRP specimens were subjected to a suite of pre-flight qualification tests prior to deployment in low Earth orbit. When the CFRP laminates were exposed to <1 × 10−5 mbar and 125 °C, the total mass loss recorded for each sample was <1 wt%. The introduction of POSS at both levels of incorporation improves erosion yield following exposure to high atomic oxygen flux and the ratio of solar absorptance (α) to emittance (ε) remained constant following simulated solar exposure. The outcome was that the three PBZ CFRP samples passed their pre-flight tests.