Development of high-temperature polyimide adhesives for a high speed civil transport: an OEM perspective

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Development of high-temperature polyimide adhesives for a high speed civil transport: an OEM perspective

Pate, K.D. / Cao, Tuan-Q.

High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) structural design concepts under consideration rely on structural bonding with polyimide adhesives to achieve the highest possible weight efficiency in the presence of extreme service temperatures. The new adhesive developed to meet these requirements exhibited an impressive combination of high strength, toughness and environmental stability when characterized using basic screening test methods. However, property degradation was measured when the adhesive was used in part configurations more representative of actual aircraft design. This paper will discuss some of the problems and solutions experienced during this development effort from an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) perspective. FM x5, a Cytec Fiberite film adhesive based on NASA-developed LaRC PETI-5 polyimide resin, was evaluated for basic metal-to-metal and facesheet to honeycomb core bond properties. Two significant problems were observed: extensive bondline porosity in metal-to-metal bonds and low honeycomb sandwich bond strength properties. Product modifications to address these problems - a non-woven scrim film adhesive and a paste adhesive - created their own difficulties. These issues and property/processability tradeoffs are discussed.