Thermoset laminates don’t melt, so a melting point won’t tell you their limits. As temperature rises, the resin loses stiffness, and with sustained overheating it degrades. The Thermoset Composite Temperature Scale from Atlas Fibre compares each grade’s published continuous-service temperature so you can check it against your operating conditions before you specify a material.
HOW IT WORKS: Drag the slider to your operating temperature. Each bar shows how far a laminate’s rating extends and where your temperature falls against it.
Common machined thermoplastics on the same scale. Unlike laminates, these melt, but their practical limit comes earlier, when stiffness loss or creep becomes unacceptable.
Curing gives a thermoset a permanently cross-linked resin network, so it can’t be melted and reshaped. Glass or cotton reinforcement carries load and restrains deformation, which is why laminates hold their dimensions well under sustained heat and stress.
As temperature approaches the resin’s glass transition (Tg), the resin loses stiffness and transfers load between fibers less effectively. Compression, shear and interlaminar properties can decline while the part still looks intact. Continued overheating degrades the resin. It doesn’t remelt.
The resin system sets the range. On this scale, G-7 glass-silicone is rated close to 100 °C higher than the glass-epoxy and cotton-phenolic grades.
Laminate and thermoplastic values come from different suppliers’ data, and test conditions may differ, so treat comparisons across the two families as approximate. These are screening values from published supplier data, not design allowables. Formulation, exposure time, load and environment can change the usable limit substantially. For a specific part, compare exact grades using elevated-temperature strength and modulus, creep data, electrical properties and the actual operating environment.
