L. Spencer*, A. Christiansen, I. Veenendaal, S. Gunuganti, D. Naylor, B. Gom, G. Sitwell, N. Zobeiry, and A. Poursartip. “Evaluation of composite materials at cryogenic temperatures”. In: 11th Canadian International Conference on Composite Materials – CANCOM 2019, 2019. Kelowna, BC, Canada. Presentation
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With high stiffness, tensile strength, strength-to-mass ratio, and extremely low thermal conductivity, carbon-fibre reinforced polymers (CFRPs) are an important material for aerospace applications. This includes space-borne Far-Infrared (FIR) astronomical instrumentation which often requires operation at cryogenic temperatures. Little is known about CFRPs, however, at cryogenic temperatures. We have developed a test facility for exploring CFRP properties down to 4 K. We present results from our ongoing study in which we establish dedicated cryogenic CFRP testbed infrastructure and compare and contrast the performance of CFRP samples using different materials, and multiple layup configurations. The goal of this research is to explore the possibility of making CFRP-based, monolithic, lightweight, cryogenic astronomical instrumentation.