Abstract: Aluminium borate whisker/Cyanate ester resin/glass fiber composites are prepared in order to enhance interlaminar properties of Cyanate eater resin/glass fiber composites. The gel time and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) are adopted to investigate influence of whisker on reaction activity of Cyanate ester resin. It is found that addition of whisker has little influence on reaction activity of Cyanate ester resin. The processing property of aluminium borate whisker/Cyanate ester resin/glass fiber composites is discussed. The results show that the viscosity of Cyanate ester resin increases because of addition of whisker. However, the increment of viscosity is relatively little, and viscosity of resin is less than 8 Pa·s, when 20 % whisker is included. Inclusion of 10 % whisker treated with 4 % borate eater couple agent led to 32% and 45% increase in the flexural strength and interlaminar shear strength, respectively. The hot-wet properties are improved because of addition of aluminium borate whisker. After 100 h in boil water, the water absorption of aluminium borate whisker/Cyanate ester resin/glass fiber composites is decreased from 2.17% to 1.09%, and the reservation ratios of both the flexural strength and interlaminar shear strength of composite exceeded 85%. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is employed to analyze the fracture surfaces of the broken specimens. It is found that some whisker was pulled out from fracture surfaces. It is confirmed that the addition of whisker attains three-dimensional braid effect.

Key words: polymer composites, aluminium borate whisker, cyanate ester resin, property