Carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy resin composites have poor high temperature resistance and are prone to thermal damage during service in the aerospace field. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the thermal decomposition (pyrolysis) characteristics of carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy composites and reasonably predict their thermal decomposition under arbitrary temperature conditions. The kinetic analysis was conducted on the thermal decomposition of carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy resin composites (USN15000/9A16/RC33, supplied by Weihai GuangWei Composites Co., Ltd. Weihai City, Shandong Province, China) under a nitrogen environment, and an improved model of pyrolysis prediction suitable for the arbitrary temperature program was developed in this work. The results showed that the carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy composites begin to degrade at about 500 K, and the peak value of the weight loss rate at the respective heating rate appears in the range of 650 K to 750 K. A single-step reaction can characterize the thermal decomposition of carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy composites in a nitrogen atmosphere, and a wide variety of isoconversional approaches can be used for the calculation of the kinetic parameters. The proposed model of pyrolysis prediction can avoid numerous limitations of temperature integration, and it shows good prediction accuracy by reducing the temperature rise between sampling points. This study provides a reference for the kinetic analysis and pyrolysis prediction of carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy composites.
Keywords: carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy composites; pyrolysis kinetics analysis; pyrolysis prediction model.