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Advanced Materials Portfolio
Sialyte™ Inorganic
Resin
What are Inorganic Resins?
True inorganic resins are unique in that they
contain no carbon in the uncured or cured resin system, yet
they still exhibit processing characteristics similar to common
organic resins. For instance, inorganic resins can be cast
or injected into molds or incorporated with fibers and/or
particulates and then cured at relatively low temperatures.
Inorganic resins also have the unique property of immediate
high-temperature performance after cure, without the high-temperature
processing required by ceramics.
Inorganic resins hold the key to expanding composite
performance mainly because of improved temperature performance,
but they also exhibit high compressive strengths and low dielectric
properties. With these characteristics, inorganic resins fill
the performance niche between ceramics or metals and organic
resins. Over the past two years, CRG has developed inorganic
resins and  inorganic composites for many applications. The
potential for these materials is enormous.
What is Sialyte?
Sialyte,
an inorganic resin developed by CRG, is processed like an organic
polymer at low temperatures (<85ºC/185ºF) and offers
consistent performance at temperatures up to 900ºC (1652ºF)
after post-cure. The cured material also has a low coefficient of thermal
expansion, low dielectric properties, and relatively high compressive
strengths. In addition, cured Sialyte material can be machined.
CRG has demonstrated significant achievements
in tailoring this inorganic polymer for specific applications.
CRG has fabricated many fiber-reinforced composites with Sialyte
resin using hand lay-up and limited resin transfer molding
(RTM). Sialyte material costs are competitive when compared
with most composite materials. Potential applications that
would benefit from Sialyte performance include high-temperature
tolerant fireproof structures (hot structures), low dielectric
structures, thermal barrier coatings, thermal protection systems,
and high-temperature tooling.
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