Abstract
The purpose of the paper is to investigate the effects of low pressure plasma treatment on wettability of carbon fibre reinforced polymer samples and on shear properties of adhesive bonded joints based on these substrates. In particular, two plasma process parameters, exposure time and power input, were optimized, performing contact angle evaluation on lap-shear tests. The plasma treatment was also compared with a conventional mechanical abrasion and untreated and only degreased specimens. The experimental results show that choosing the optimal parameters is possible to improve the wettability of composite substrates and reduce the contact angle.
Highlights
The use of composites is a growing reality in many industrial fields, from civil structures [1,2,3] to transport industry and especially in aeronautics components [4,5,6,7,8,9]
The hydrophilic behaviour of the surfaces increased from the untreated to the abraded ones, reaching the minimum
9 5 10 15 20 18 6 20 10 25 23 30 values of contact angle for the samples exposed to the plasma treatment
Summary
The use of composites is a growing reality in many industrial fields, from civil structures [1,2,3] to transport industry and especially in aeronautics components [4,5,6,7,8,9]. Some of their advantages are stiffness, ability to be tailored into complex shapes, strength, corrosion resistance, fatigue properties, and lightweight. The use of bonding techniques allows a better stress distribution as well as durable, lightweight, and aesthetic joints [12, 13]
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