Abstract
All reinforcements for polymer-matrix composites must be coated with a suitable material in the form of a thin film to improve compatibility and interfacial adhesion between the reinforcement and the polymer matrix. In this study, plasma nanotechnology was used to synthetize such functional nanocoatings using pure tetravinylsilane (TVS) and its mixtures with oxygen gas (O2) as precursors. The plasma-coated glass fibers (GFs) were unidirectionally embedded in a polyester resin to produce short composite beams that were analyzed by a short-beam-shear test to determine the shear strength characterizing the functionality of the nanocoatings in a GF/polyester composite. The developed plasma nanocoatings allowed controlling the shear strength between 26.2–44.1 MPa depending on deposition conditions, i.e., the radiofrequency (RF) power and the oxygen fraction in the TVS/O2 mixture. This range of shear strength appears to be sufficiently broad to be used in the design of composites.
Highlights
Accurate synthesis of new materials and devices with complex application-tailored structures is essential for the development of sophisticated nanotechnology-based products [1].Nowadays, wet chemical technologies for the production of this type of material lack the precision to determine their properties and the synthesized materials contain numerous imperfections at the atomic level
Such tailored nanocoatings are required for controlled interphase in hybrid materials, such as polymer-matrix composites and nanocomposites reinforced by micro- or nano-fibers and micro- or nano-particles
We focused on the plasma coating of continuous glass fibers used as reinforcements for polyester resin
Summary
Accurate synthesis of new materials and devices with complex application-tailored structures is essential for the development of sophisticated nanotechnology-based products [1].Nowadays, wet chemical technologies for the production of this type of material lack the precision to determine their properties and the synthesized materials contain numerous imperfections at the atomic level. Accurate synthesis of new materials and devices with complex application-tailored structures is essential for the development of sophisticated nanotechnology-based products [1]. Using bottom-up approaches, which use small molecule fragments or individual atoms as building blocks (plasma nanotechnology) is an attractive approach to synthesizing very complex and yet well-defined material structures. The synthesis of functional nanocoatings with controlled mechanical and chemical properties is an example of highly sophisticated materials. Such tailored nanocoatings are required for controlled interphase in hybrid materials, such as polymer-matrix composites and nanocomposites reinforced by micro- or nano-fibers and micro- or nano-particles. Plasma nanotechnology using atomic processes seems to be the right tool for the synthesis of such nanocoatings
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