LARC-13 adhesive development

The paper reports the results of a program whose objective was to modify physically and chemically LARC-13 resin in order to obtain an improved adhesive for 589 K applications. The project was directed, in particular, toward Space Shuttle applications such as the body flap in which the designers could take the advantage of the excellent strength-to-weight ratio of advanced composites. Improved resins were obtained by substitution of m, m-prime-diaminodiphenylmethane with metaphenylene diamine in the original LARC-13 chemistry. Test results for the new adhesives are presented.