| Abstract | The use of high performance thermoplastic composite structure in aerospace has seen a great increase in the past decade. Thermoplastic composites present many advantages over thermoset composites in term of processing and performance. Their fast processing time, infinite shelf life and recyclability lead to a decrease in the manufacturing costs compared to traditional autoclaved thermoset composites. Also, their high toughness and fatigue resistance, high temperature performance, chemical resistance and low flammability make them good candidates to replace metallic or thermoset composite aerospace structures. Among the several manufacturing techniques available, autoclave processing of thermoplastic composite is a simple technique allowing the co-consolidation of semi-complex composite structures. In this study, the effect of the autoclave process parameters (processing temperature, temperature cooling rate and consolidation pressure) on the crystallinity, the panel quality and mechanical performances of PEEK/carbon composite panels was investigated. The neat resin crystallinity was first examined by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) under different cooling rates. Tensile, in-plane shear, and interlaminar shear tests were performed to assess the panel mechanical performance under different processing conditions. Panel quality was defined by observing the panel consolidation and void content via microscopy and X-ray tomography. From these results, the sensitivity of the material performance to the process parameters was determined and the optimal autoclave processing windows of PEEK/carbon tape material was established. |
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