The Effect of Silicone Modification on the Thermo-Oxidative Degradation and Mechanical Property Retention of CFRP Laminates
5 affiliations
- 1State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
- 2Hubei Key Laboratory of Theory and Application of Advanced Materials Mechanics, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
- 3Aviation Operations Service College, Air Force Aviation University, Changchun 130022, China
- 4Institute for Frontier and Interdisciplinary Innovation, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430119, China
- 5Wanhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd., Yantai 265505, China
Abstract
The mechanical properties of CFRP laminates degrade significantly in extreme thermal environments above the onset temperature of thermo-oxidative degradation of the matrix. This study investigates the thermo-oxidative damage evolution and mechanical degradation mechanisms of CFRP laminates with silicone-modified epoxy (SME) and neat epoxy (EP) through thermogravimetric analysis, multi-scenario thermo-oxidative degradation tests, tensile/compressive measurements and multi-scale SEM observations. The results show that silicone modification reduces the peak mass loss rate from approximately 10 to 6 %·min−1; at 350 °C for 3 h, the mass loss of SME-based CFRP is about 42.3% lower than that of EP-based CFRP. Strengths under all loading configurations decay monotonically with degradation severity, with the strength of SME-based laminates exceeding that of the EP counterparts by up to 139.7% under the most severe condition. The C–Si–O hybrid network suppresses matrix degradation and fiber–matrix debonding, delaying crack initiation and propagation, thereby markedly enhancing the thermo-oxidative damage tolerance of the composites. This work provides data support for damage-tolerance design and safety assessment of composite structures in extreme thermal environments.
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BibTeX
@article{xia2026effect,
title = {{The Effect of Silicone Modification on the Thermo-Oxidative Degradation and Mechanical Property Retention of CFRP Laminates}},
author = {Junkang Xia and Yundong Ji and Jingang Liu and Dongfeng Cao and Wei Cai and Hongda Chen and Lei Wang and Shichao Wu and Shuxin Li},
journal = {Polymers},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/polym18192405},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13666660},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - The Effect of Silicone Modification on the Thermo-Oxidative Degradation and Mechanical Property Retention of CFRP Laminates
AU - Junkang Xia
AU - Yundong Ji
AU - Jingang Liu
AU - Dongfeng Cao
AU - Wei Cai
AU - Hongda Chen
AU - Lei Wang
AU - Shichao Wu
AU - Shuxin Li
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Polymers
DO - 10.3390/polym18192405
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13666660
AB - The mechanical properties of CFRP laminates degrade significantly in extreme thermal environments above the onset temperature of thermo-oxidative degradation of the matrix. This study investigates the thermo-oxidative damage evolution and mechanical degradation mechanisms of CFRP laminates with silicone-modified epoxy (SME) and neat epoxy (EP) through thermogravimetric analysis, multi-scenario thermo-oxidative degradation tests, tensile/compressive measurements and multi-scale SEM observations. The results show that silicone modification reduces the peak mass loss rate from approximately 10 to 6 %·min−1; at 350 °C for 3 h, the mass loss of SME-based CFRP is about 42.3% lower than that of EP-based CFRP. Strengths under all loading configurations decay monotonically with degradation severity, with the strength of SME-based laminates exceeding that of the EP counterparts by up to 139.7% under the most severe condition. The C–Si–O hybrid network suppresses matrix degradation and fiber–matrix debonding, delaying crack initiation and propagation, thereby markedly enhancing the thermo-oxidative damage tolerance of the composites. This work provides data support for damage-tolerance design and safety assessment of composite structures in extreme thermal environments.
SN - 2073-4360
ER -