Adhesive repair of bismaleimide/carbon fiber composites with bisphenol E cyanate ester

The adhesive strength and repair efficiency of bisphenol E cyanate ester (BECy) is investigated for the injection repair of high temperature polymer–matrix composites (PMCs) by lap shear (LS), short beam shear bending (SBSB), and double-cantilever beam (DCB) tests. Bismaleimide/carbon fiber (BMI–cf) composites were chosen as a model substrate. The BECy resin showed similar strength at room temperature to a benchmark epoxy adhesive and outperformed the epoxy at high temperature (200 °C) in all mechanical tests performed. The influence of moisture content of the PMC substrate on the adhesive strength of BECy was systematically investigated. Drying of PMC before repair was necessary for excellent repair performance. Both the flexural strength of repaired SBSB specimens and the inter-laminar fracture toughness of repaired DCB specimens were significantly higher than that of the control composites and stable over a broad temperature range.