MANUFACTURING METHOD OF BRAMHA RESIN AND CARBON COMOSITE LAMINATES FOR VARIOUS QUALIFICATION TESTS

At present Carbon/Glass fiber composite structure are widely used with Epoxy Resin. Epoxy resin is employed  primarily  for  fabricating  high  performance  composites with best  physical properties, corrosion properties, superior electrical properties, smart  performance  at  elevated  temperatures, smart  adhesion  to  a substrate  or  a  combination  of  these edges. Epoxy resins are used with variety of fibrous reinforcing materials as well as glass, carbon. Epoxies are compatible with most composite producing processes significantly various types of molding, filament winding and hand lay-up.      Light weight and high strength composite material thus made promotes aerospace and missile industries to replace metallic structure. However, there are limitations on their use in thermal environment having maximum temperature range of 120-1500C. Also glass fiber composites are subject to considerable water absorption. This limitation is imposed by Epoxy matrix in composite structure. A new indigenous herbal matrix/resin named ‘BRAMHA’ has been developed for fabrication of glass/carbon fiber reinforced composite materials. Since it is made from wheat, cereals, proteins, starch mixed with natural gum, it is categorized as “Herbal” resin. Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer molding (VARTM) composite fabrication process is used for preparation of carbon & glass fiber laminates. This resin is then compared with epoxy for its various physical & mechanical properties such as pure resin shear strength, water absorption, and sand erosion. The strength tests like tensile at room and at elevated temperatures; compression test and inter-laminar shear strength are conducted. The test results obtained show that BRAMHA resin has superior properties than presently used Epoxy resin .The above tests are carried out at Advanced Composite Division (ACD) National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL) Bangalore and Composite Research Center (CRC) DRDO-R & D E, Pun