Abstract
Carbon fibers (CFs) have been widely applied in the manufacture of polymeric composites. The mechanical properties of these composites depend on the adhesion in the matrix/CF interface. Since the CFs have poor adhesion properties, a surface treatment of the CFs becomes necessary. The plasma process used in this work was the dielectric barrier discharge (DBD). The DBD treatment of twill weave carbon fi bers (2×2) was performed during 2.0; 5.0; 7.5 and 10.0 minutes. CF/polypropylene (PP) composites were produced by hot pressing method. The surface morphology, structure and mechanical properties of CFs were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), Raman spectroscopy, interlaminar shear test (ILSS) and dynamical mechanical analysis (DMA), respectively. SEM images show great changes on the CF surface after the treatment, AFM results show that the fi ber treated for 2.0 min exhibited the highest roughness and Raman spectra revealed that the carbon fi ber crystalline structure did not change after the treatment. The ILSS and DMA results show an increase of the mechanical strength and no major change in the glass temperature of the composites after the DBD treatment, respectively. Some results were compared to those obtained in our previous study, in which the plain weave fiber (1×1) was evaluated.
Highlights
Carbon fibers (CFs) have excellent properties such as high mechanical and thermal resistance, high elastic modulus and electrical conductivity, chemical stability, low specific weight, high heat and corrosion resistance (Santos et al 2013; Guo et al 2010; Akonda et al 2012; Zhang et al 2011)
It is noted that after dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) treatments, there was agglomeration of particles on the CFs surface (Fig. 1b-e). This finding can be explained as a redeposition of sizing originally removed from the CF by etching during the DBD process. These results are similar to the ones in our previous work (Santos et al 2013), where it was showed that the plain weave carbon fiber surface was modified after the DBD treatment due to plasma etching
Twill weave fabric CFs were treated by air-DBD plasma
Summary
Carbon fibers (CFs) have excellent properties such as high mechanical and thermal resistance, high elastic modulus and electrical conductivity, chemical stability, low specific weight, high heat and corrosion resistance (Santos et al 2013; Guo et al 2010; Akonda et al 2012; Zhang et al 2011). The ILSS and DMA results show an increase of the mechanical strength and no major change in the glass temperature of the composites after the DBD treatment, respectively. In this work, the effect of DBD treatment on the mechanical, structural and morphological properties of twill weave fabric (2×2) was investigated for PP/CF composites production.
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