Manufacturing and Mechanical Testing of TC1225/LM-PAEK and TC1200/PEEK Thermoplastic Composite Panels

Development of thermoplastic composites (TPCs) for aerospace structures is experiencing renewed enthusiasm attributed to the availability of rapid manufacturing technology, ease of joining through fusion welding processes, and the successful utilization of the material in flight critical structures. Semicrystalline thermoplastics such as polyether ether ketone (PEEK), polyether ketone ketone (PEKK), and polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) have been successfully demonstrated as thermoplastic skins, keel beams, and angle brackets for commercial aircraft.

Composite specimens were fabricated from the Toray TC1225 and TC1200 unidirectional prepreg systems and tested to gain confidence with NASA in-house TPC processing as part of the Thermoplastics Development for Exploration Application (TDEA) project. TC1225 is a relatively new material system that uses T700GC fibers and low-melt polyaryl ether ketone (LM-PAEK) resin. TC1200 is the latest version of a material system that has been available for several decades with AS4 fibers and PEEK resin. Results for ultrasonic inspection, optical microscopy, acid digestion, and differential scanning calorimetry establish the quality of the panels. Mechanical test data for unnotched and notched laminate tension and compression as well as compression after impact provide data for equivalency assessment and support material selection in TDEA. Satisfactory equivalence of the TC1225 results and the National Center for Advanced Materials Performance (NCAMP) database was found. The results indicate high-quality manufacturing was achieved, and the resulting mechanical test data are in agreement with that in the literature.