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Hy-Bor is a trademarked brand of hybrid composite materials that combines boron fiber and carbon fiber in a unidirectional prepreg. The portfolio was introduced to the commercial market in 1993 by Textron Specialty Materials[1] and currently marketed by Specialty Materials. The material's unique combination of constituent properties for fiber-reinforced composites has led to adoption in aerospace, sporting goods, and space applications.

History

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In 1990, Tonen Chemical Corporation applied for and was awarded a patent which described a process for combining both boron fiber and carbon fiber into a unidirectional prepreg to enhance both strength and elastic modulus.[2] Textron Specialty Materials commercialized Hy-Bor in 1993, initially offering combinations of 3-mil (76 micron) or 4-mil (100 micron) boron fiber with various carbon fibers, including Toray T300, Hexcel IM7, and Syensqo T650 carbon fibers, using thermoset toughened epoxies and thermoplastic polyimides.[3]

Textron divested their composites division in 2001 to Specialty Materials, Inc.,[4] the only commercial Hy-Bor offerings were a full-count 208-fiber per inch and low count 100-fiber per inch prepregs. Both laminates used 4-mil (100 micron) boron fiber with Mitsubishi MR40 and Newport 301 resin.[5] This portfolio was renamed Gen 1 Hy-Bor as a second-generation Hy-Bor development program began in 2019.[6]

Gen 2 Hy-Bor

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In late 2019, shortly before Specialty Materials, Inc. was acquired[7] by Global Materials, Inc., the Gen 2 Hy-Bor development project started in partnership with Toray Advanced Composites.[8] This program focused on development of high-performance composites combining 4-mil boron fiber, Toray T1100G carbon fiber, and various Toray toughened epoxies, bismaleimides, cyanate esters, and polyimides.[9]

Applications

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Aerospace

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Hy-Bor has found significant utilization in multiple military unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) programs.

In 1995, General Atomics introduced their RQ-1 Predator reconnaissance UAV program. By winter 2000, the Central Intelligence Agency sought to retrofit Predator airframes to carry and deploy AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and other ordnance with a MQ-1 program.[10] General Atomics utilized Hy-Bor to increase both stiffness and compression strength for the upper wing spar cap to enable the upgrade.[11] The MQ-1C Gray Eagle and MQ-9 Reaper also feature Hy-Bor for wing spar performance and light-weighting.[12]

Sporting Goods

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In 1998, R.L. Winston Rod Co., a manufacturer of fly fishing rods in Twin Bridges, Montana, launched the BL5 rod with used "breakthrough" boron/graphite composite technology which utilized the higher modulus and compression properties in the butt section for improved high line speeds.[13]

Also in 1998, Team Rahal used Hy-Bor to increase downforce of their superspeedway wing by 4% while also making it "thinner, lighter, stronger, and stiffer" on their Reynard 98I.[14]

Calfee Design, a La Selva Beach, California manufacturer of carbon fiber bicycle products, launched their Dragonfly bike in late 2001[15] featuring Hy-Bor tubing in key design locations to eliminate more than 10% of the total bike weight.[16]

For the 2022 holiday season, Bauer Hockey unveiled the AG5NT stick featuring the Specialty Materials' logo and describes boron fiber and carbon fiber technology enabling their lightest stick which "delivers the quickest Bauer release ever." Bauer holds exclusive rights for Hy-Bor and boron fiber in hockey.[17] For the 2023 holiday season, Bauer launched the PROTO-R powered by BORON enabling improved light-weighting and compression properties.[18]

Space

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While not specifically marketed as Hy-Bor, hybrid boron/carbon fiber prepregs have been used as a structural composite in spaceborne applications.[19]

The James Webb Space Telescope's Integrated Science Instrument Module uses hybrid boron/high-modulus carbon fiber composites in its kinematic mounts to achieve zero coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) in connection between the primary mirror backplane and the sensor packages.[20]

Technical Characteristics

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Hy-Bor is created by adding boron fiber into carbon-fiber reinforced polymers, combining the high compressive strength of boron fiber[21] with the tensile properties of carbon fiber for use in composites to increase compression strength,[22] stiffness, decrease part weight and thickness, control coefficient of thermal expansion, and improve mechanical damping. Boron fiber volume is varied for selective reinforcement.[23]

References

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  1. ^ Buck, Michael (1993). "New Hybrid Boron-Caron Prepreg Developed". Materials Technology. 8: 138-139. doi:10.1080/10667857.1993.11784965.
  2. ^ US Expired 5279879A, Makoto Takezawa, Makiji Miyao, Sadahisa Wada, Hiroshi Inoue, "Hybrid prepreg containing carbon fibers and at least one other reinforcing fiber in specific positions within the prepreg", published 1994-01-18, issued 1994-01-18 
  3. ^ "Hybrid prepreg offers unmatched strength and flexibility". Reinforced Plastics. 37 (9): 12. 1993. doi:10.1016/0034-3617(93)90393-5.
  4. ^ Textron (2001-12-17). "Textron Sells Composite Material Products Business To Specialty Materials, Inc". Retrieved 2024-10-28.
  5. ^ "Specialty Materials Inc". Archived from the original on 2001-12-29. Retrieved 2024-10-28.
  6. ^ "Gen 1 Hy-Bor Prepreg Tape". Archived from the original on 2021-12-02. Retrieved 2024-10-28.
  7. ^ Mason, Hannah (2019-10-10). "Global Materials LLC to acquire Specialty Materials Inc". CompositesWorld. Retrieved 2024-10-28.
  8. ^ Marzik, James; Foltz, Thomas; Camardese, Chantel (2019-04-10). "Recent Developments in Boron Fiber-Reinforced Composite Materials" (PDF). SAMPE North America. doi:10.33599/nasampe/s.19.1438.
  9. ^ "Toray and Specialty Materials Strengthens Partnership for Next Generation Aerospace Application at CAMX 2022". Toray Advanced Composites. 2022-10-18. Retrieved 2024-10-28.
  10. ^ Bierbauer, Alec; Cooter, Mark (2021-01-26). Never Mind, We'll Do It Ourselves: The Inside Story of How a Team of Renegades Broke Rules, Shattered Barriers, and Launched a Drone Warfare Revolution. Skyhorse. ISBN 151072091X.
  11. ^ Foltz, Tom (2020-06-24). "Boron Fiber: The Original High-Performance Fiber". CompositesWorld. Retrieved 2024-10-28. One of the first production applications for Hy-Bor was the spar caps below the wings of General Atomics' (San Diego, Calif., U.S.) Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The high compressive strength of boron fiber enabled a significantly increased payload to be carried on the Reaper.
  12. ^ "Design, Optimization and Characterization of Hybrids of Boron Fiber and HM63 Carbon Fiber for Department of Defense Applications". 2023-07-03. The hybrids of boron and carbon fibers are commercially called Hy-Bor® which have been used on Department of Defense applications like General Atomics Gray Eagle and the Reaper variants of the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle. Hy-Bor® won its way into the Predator Platform because of the higher compression strengths of the Hy-Bor® which consists of Mitsubishi's MR40 fiber in NCT-301 Toughened Epoxy with Specialty Materials 0.004-inch diameter Boron fiber. This combination allowed General Atomics to stiffen and strengthen the spar caps of the Predator allowing them to carry AGM-114 Hellfire missiles with minimal change in the aerodynamic characteristic of the aircraft.
  13. ^ "New Rods for 1998". Archived from the original on 1998-01-21. Retrieved 2024-10-28. New 5-piece Saltwater rods made with Boron/Graphite composite in butt sections to generate extremely high line speeds.
  14. ^ "Software drives racing's leading edge Cover Story". 1998-05-04. Retrieved 2024-10-28. Engineers worked with sponsor Textron Specialty Materials (Lowell, MA) to make use of a graphite/boron composite skin, called Hy-Bor, which made the wing thinner, lighter, stronger, and stiffer than the stock item.
  15. ^ "Dragonfly". Archived from the original on 2001-12-12. Retrieved 2024-10-28. High tech Boron/Carbon fiber Hybrid tubing.
  16. ^ "Compression Behavior of High Performance Hy-Bor® and Graphite-Epoxy Bicycle Tubes" (PDF). 2004-12-31. Retrieved 2024-10-28. An all-graphite 54 cm frame such as the Calfee Tetra weighs 2.5 pounds while a similar sized Hy-Bor containing frame such as the Calfee Dragonfly weighs only 2 pounds. One-half or 0.25 pounds of this improvement occurs because of the strength and stiffening enhancement associated with the addition of boron.
  17. ^ "New AG5NT Ultra-Lightweight Hockey Stick Senior". Archived from the original on 2023-01-30. Retrieved 2024-10-28. AG5NT is the only stick to utilize the unique properties of BORON – a revolutionary, ultra-lightweight fiber material with two key performance benefits: lightest Bauer stick ever and quickest release we've ever produced. [...] Outside of the aerospace and defensive aeronautics industries, Bauer is the only brand in hockey holding exclusive rights with Specialty Materials Inc.
  18. ^ "BAUER PROTO-R GRIP STICK SENIOR". Archived from the original on 2023-11-01. Retrieved 2024-10-28. BORON's lightweight properties and one-of-a-kind compression, paired with a mid-kick construction to optimize shot power from anywhere on the ice, makes the PROTO-R BAUER's most deceptive stick in the game.
  19. ^ US Expired 5593752A, David J. Pollatta, Thomas N. Quinzi, "Low CTE/CME boron/carbon fiber laminates and method of making them", published 1997-01-14, issued 1997-01-14 
  20. ^ "Case Studies and Composite Data" (PDF). 2023-10-18. p. 12. Retrieved 2024-10-28. The ISIM connects via kinematic mount to the Primary Mirror Backplane with extreme precision. Composites produced with boron fiber, M55J, and K13C2U are used for both structural performance and zero CTE tuning.
  21. ^ Katafiasz, Tomas; Garulli, Torquato; Greenhalgh, Emile; Pinho, Silvertre (2023-08-04). "Compressive Failure of Boron-Carbon Fibre Hybrid Composites: A Detailed Experimental Study" (PDF). International Conferences on Composite Materials. The presence of boron fibres with CFRP composite plies loaded under compression were seen to arrest both in plane and out-of-plane kinking of the carbon fibre layers in the form of splitting at the boron/matrix interface.
  22. ^ "Gen 2 Hy-Bor for Aerospace" (PDF). Specialty Materials. 2022-10-11.
  23. ^ Garrett Bernard (2023-09-14). Unleashing Innovation: Boron Fiber for Multifunctional Composites (Video). CompositesWorld.
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