Aging of Organic Matrix Composite Materials

Abstract

Among the wide variety of organic matrix composite (OMC) applications, very scarce are those for which dura-bility is not a key property. This is the reason why OMC aging raised a relatively abundant literature in the past half century. Aging can be defined as a slow (e.g., needing the recourse to accelerated aging tests) and irreversible (in use conditions) evolution of the chemical structure, mor-phology (in its widest sense), and/or composition of the material. It is a technically and economically important problem when evolution leads to a deleterious change of use properties. This problem can be crucial in highly demanding domains, for instance in aerospace applica-tions, which explains why a great part of the research on OMC aging was induced and supported by the aerospace industry.