A positron annihilation spectroscopy study of carbon-epoxy composites

Abstract

Many positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) studies have been carried out during the last several years for characterizing various polymeric materials. In this work, the PAS technique is used to investigate some positron annihilation characteristics of the combination of carbon fibers with epoxy polymers to form carbon-epoxy composites. These composites are receiving wide and increasing application in industrial markets where light-weight materials with high strength and excellent fatigue characteristics are required. We have found that PAS is capable of detecting different concentrations of carbon fiber in these composites and a relationship is shown to exist between fiber fractions found by PAS and apparent volume and weight fractions found by density measurements. Positron annihilation centers have also been found that we believe were created at the carbon-epoxy interface when the composite was prepared. Characterization of this interface is important for the development of composites with improved mechanical properties.