Evaluation of e glass epoxy composite laminate as an electromagnetically transparent aerospace material

The performance of E glass reinforced epoxy composite laminate as an aerospace material with least loss in transmission of signals, transmitted from aerospace and defence vehicle's communication devices is evaluated in this work. As a protective covering to an antenna has to endure various environmental conditions, the fabricated E glass epoxy laminates, with a variation in the hardening agent used, is studied for tensile, flexure, shear, and impact properties. The most important function of the protective layer apart from protecting the antennas, is to allow the signals to be transmitted and received without deterioration in its quality. To evaluate the transparency to signals, the dielectric properties such as the dielectric constant and loss tangent are studied. In addition to this, the thermal expansion coefficient is also calculated. This paper gives a comparison of the findings between the mechanical, thermal and dielectric properties of the two hardening agents triethylenetetramine and diethyltoluenediamine of the epoxy resin when used for electromagnetically transparent applications.