Composite Materials for Structural Design.

Summarized are research activities in the areas of composite materials processing and testing, elevated temperature and moisture effects on composites and adhesives, and neutron radiography. Also included are four papers which were completed during the reporting period. Primary accomplishments in the first area were the development of a processing laboratory, development of a testing method for obtaining the complex modulus of resin during the curing process, and partial characterization of thermo mechanical behavior of resins and composites close to and below the glass transition temperature. Some methods for predicting residual stresses and crack growth in composites were developed, and special cases were studied. Also, nonlinear constitutive equations were incorporated into a finite element code. A neutron radiography facility was developed and applied to the inspection of moisture content and flows in composites. Author