Organic fiber/epoxy pressure vessels
We evaluated the performance of an organic fiber in an epoxy matrix by winding 20-cm diam spherical and cylindrical pressure vessels of various designs. For the spherical vessels, we used soft aluminum liners 0.76 mm thick for a double boss design and 2 mm thick for a single boss design. For the cylindrical vessels, we used both 0.5-mm rubber liners and 0.76-mm soft aluminum liners. Vessels of both types were tested for burst pressure and cyclic fatigue at room temperature and liquid hydrogen temperature. The effects of temperature and vessel shape on the vessel performance factor were negligible. Our vessel fatigue data were marred by premature failure of the liners.