{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,13]],"date-time":"2025-11-13T12:34:05Z","timestamp":1763037245265,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":19,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2018,11,30]],"date-time":"2018-11-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1543536000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000844","name":"European Space Agency","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["AO\/1-7543\/12\/NL\/CP"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["AO\/1-7543\/12\/NL\/CP"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000844","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Fibers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>One of the main advantages of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) electronic housings, when compared with traditionally used aluminum ones, is the potential for mass savings. In recent years, the power consumption of electronics has been growing, resulting in the need for higher thermal dissipation of electronic housings, requiring the use of highly thermally conductive materials. In this work, the manufacturing of a highly conductive CFRP electronic housing is reported. With a view to reducing total energy costs on manufacturing, an out-of-the autoclave manufacturing process was followed. Due to the inherent low thermal conductivity of typical raw materials for composite materials, strategies were evaluated to increase its value by changing the components used. The use of pitch-based carbon fibers was found to be a very promising solution. In addition, structural, thermal and manufacturing simulations were produced in the design phase. Improved performance was demonstrated from materials manufacturing to final breadboard testing. The results indicate potential gains of around 23% in mass reduction when compared to conventional aluminum electronic boxes. Moreover, the proposed design and the manufactured breadboard showed good compliance with mechanical and electrical requirements for spacecraft structures. The thermal balance results showed a performance slightly below to what would be expected from the detailed design.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/fib6040092","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,11,30]],"date-time":"2018-11-30T12:13:17Z","timestamp":1543579997000},"page":"92","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":34,"title":["Highly Conductive Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composite Electronic Box: Out-Of-Autoclave Manufacturing for Space Applications"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"6","author":[{"given":"Marta","family":"Martins","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"INEGI\u2014Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Rui","family":"Gomes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"INEGI\u2014Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Lu\u00eds","family":"Pina","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"INEGI\u2014Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Celeste","family":"Pereira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"INEGI\u2014Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Olaf","family":"Reichmann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"HPS\u2014High Performance Space Structure Systems GmbH, 81379 M\u00fcnchen, Germany"}]},{"given":"Daniele","family":"Teti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ESA\u2014European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands"}]},{"given":"Nuno","family":"Correia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"INEGI\u2014Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Nuno","family":"Rocha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"INEGI\u2014Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,11,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Pereira, C., Silva, S.I., Rocha, N., and Vasques, C. (2014). Manufacturing Process Report, INEGI\u2014Institute of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Management. RTMEBOX-INE-TN080, Thermally Conductive RTM CFRP; ESA contract no. 4000107706\/13\/NL\/CP."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Katajisto, H., Brander, T., and Wallin, M. (2005, January 23\u201324). Structural and Thermal Analysis of Carbon Composite Electronics Housing for a Satellite. Proceedings of the NAFEMS Seminar\u2014Component and System Analysis Using Numerical Simulation Techniques\u2014FEA, CFD, MBS, Gothenburg, Sweden."},{"key":"ref_3","first-page":"57","article-title":"Light Weight Conductive Polymer Composites Enclosure for Avionics","volume":"5","author":"Vanaja","year":"2007","journal-title":"Int. J. Mech. Prod. Eng."},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"Finckenor, M.M., and Groh, K.K. (2018, October 01). 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