Study on the thermal and mechanical properties of novel neutron shielding composite laminates at elevated temperature

Neutron shielding fibre metal laminates (NSFMLs) containing 10-50 wt% of boron carbide (B4C) powder were fabricated using hot molding process, and the effects of experimental temperature on the thermal and mechanical properties of composite laminates were investigated in this work. Thermal stability of composite laminates was conducted with thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and their mechanical properties were also measured. The testing results indicated that good interfacial adhesion between different layers, uniform distribution of B4C particles and carbon fibres tightly surrounded by polyimide (PI) resin were crucial to the mechanical properties of composite laminates. TGA-DSC results illustrated the scarcely mass loss of composite laminates below 300 °C, yet began to decompose when it exceeded over 390 °C. Moreover, tensile strength of the NSFMLs degraded with the increasing of experimental temperature and the volume fraction of B4C powder. Double bear shear (DBS) testing results showed that the NSFMLs with 30 wt% of B4C powder had the maximum interlaminar shear value, while the primary delamination zone occurred at the interface between two layered carbon fibre reinforced prepregs (CFRPs). The composite laminates still maintained the good interlaminar shear strength even at 300 °C.