Enhancement of hydrophobicity and UV aging resistance of Poly (p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) fibers modified by fluorosilane and UV absorber

Lanlan Liu,Yu Yang,Hui Li,Dehua Zou,Zhihua Li

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-45199-8

Abstract

Poly (p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) (PBO) fibers were functionalized by 3-Glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (KH-560) and then coated with 1 H, 1 H, 2 H, 2H-Perfluorodecyltrimethoxysilane (HFTES) and UV absorber (UV-328) to improve hydrophobicity and UV aging resistance. The chemical compositions of PBO fibers before and after modification were analyzed by XPS and surface morphologies were observed by SEM. The hydrophobicity of PBO fibers was evaluated by the measurement of contact angle for water and the UV aging resistance was evaluated by the tensile strength retention ratio of PBO fibers. The results showed that KH-560 was successfully introduced onto the PBO fiber surface. The contact angle for water was increased by 128% from 51.7° to 127°, suggesting a huge improvement of hydrophobicity. The UV aging resistance of PBO fibers was also greatly improved. After 400 h UV exposure, the tensile strength retention ratio was increased to 53%, which was much higher than that of 21.4% for pristine PBO fibers. And the results of variable coating times demonstrated that the optimal UV aging resistance was obtained by coating three times.

Highlights

With the increase of electric power consumption, ultra-high voltage AC transmission at 1000 kV AC and above voltages have attracted wide attention to achieve long distance and bulk capacity power transmission
After functionalized with KH-560, a new peak at 102 eV emerges in ƒ-PBO fibers corresponding to the Si2p20, which suggests that KH-560 is successfully introduced onto the PBO fiber surface by forming covalent bond
HFTES/UV-328/ƒ-PBO fiber, a high hydrophobic and UV aging resistant PBO fiber was prepared by modification of KH-560 and coating with HFTES and UV-328

Summary

Introduction

With the increase of electric power consumption, ultra-high voltage AC transmission at 1000 kV AC and above voltages have attracted wide attention to achieve long distance and bulk capacity power transmission. As a representative of high-performance fibers, Poly (p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) (PBO) is known for its excellent properties, such as outstanding mechanical properties, good thermal stability and chemical resistance[1,2,3]. Based on these superior characteristics, PBO fibers are extensively applied in the field of military, aerospace and general industry[4,5,6]. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were performed to characterize the surface morphology and structure, angle contact measurement and mechanical analysis were used to investigate the hydrophobicity and ultraviolet stability of modified PBO fiber. This work will pave the way for the further research of the applications of PBO fiber in live working

Methods

Results

Conclusion