A novel low-melting, low-viscosity, one-part bismaleimide resin based on m-xylylene bismaleimide has been developed and examined for application in vacuum-assisted resin infusion. The resin is a fully formulated system comprising a ternary eutectic BMI mixture blended with bis-(o-propenylphenoxy)benzophenone and 2,2'-bis(3-allyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)propane as co-monomers. The resin offers enhanced properties for melt processing techniques. The formulation strategy and chemistry is presented and discussed in detail. For resin infusion and/or resin transfer molding technologies, the melt processing temperature of the resin is in the range of 90–110℃. Processing data of the uncured and mechanical properties of cured neat resin are provided. The resin shows a Tgof 285℃ when post-cured at 250℃ for 6 h. Finally, a 400 × 500 mm2carbon fabric laminate was successfully molded for demonstration by a VARI process. The microscopic study reveals no voids and no laminate surface imperfections. The VARI processing details are presented and discussed.
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