Bismaleimide (BMI) is a thermosetting polymer resin seeing increased use in aerospace applications[1]. This is primarily due to its high mechanical strength, high-temperature stability, low corrosiveness, and easy handling[2]. These properties set BMIs apart from other industrial resins as BMIs outperform epoxies in both strength and anticorrosiveness, and have easier processing capabilities in comparison to other high-strength resins. When reinforced with glass or carbon fibers, BMI-based composite systems provide high-strength, low-weight alternatives to many metals or alloys commonly used in aerospace applications. Nondestructive techniques to evaluate the effects of aging on polymer composite systems are still being developed, however. In this work, methods of broadband dielectric spectroscopy and photoacoustic Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) are used to evaluate the degradation due to thermo-oxidative aging, expressed through mass loss and interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) values, of a BMI/glass fiber composite system. Full detail is provided in [3].

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