Surface Treatment of Carbon Fibers by Continuous Gaseous System

Conference · Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2011

OSTI ID:1024665

Vautard, Frederic ^[1]; Paulauskas, Felix L ^[1]; Naskar, Amit K ^[1]; Warren, Charles David ^[1]; Meyer, III, Harry M ^[1]; Ozcan, Soydan ^[1]

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1. ORNL

The mechanical performance of carbon fiber-polymer composites strongly depends on interfacial adhesion, which is function of types of carbon fiber, surface chemistry, physical and chemical interactions, and mechanical interlocking. Untreated and unsized high strength carbon fibers were oxidized by continuous thermochemical and atmospheric plasma treatment. Surface properties were investigated before and after treatment (chemistry, topography), as well as their mechanical properties. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed a significant increase of the oxygen atomic content from 3% to around 20% and the analysis of the carbon peak showed that carboxylic acid functionalities and hydroxyl groups were generated. An observation of the fiber surface by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy did not show any dramatic change of the fiber morphology and surface topography. A Raman spectroscopy analysis exhibited that the weak boundary layers and debris remaining at the surface of untreated fibers were removed. No significant damage of the mechanical properties (tensile strength) was noticed. The influence of the changes of the surface properties on interfacial adhesion of carbon fiber-epoxy and -vinyl ester matrix was evaluated using 90 flexural and short beam shear tests with unidirectional coupons. A significant increase of the 90 flexural and short beam shear strength showed that the interfacial adhesion between carbon fibers and epoxy resins was improved. The observation of the fracture profile by scanning electron microcopy confirmed those results, as the rupture of the coupons after surface treatment was more cohesive.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). High Temperature Materials Lab. (HTML)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1024665
• Resource Relation: Conference: SAMPE, Long Beach, Ca, CA, USA, 20110523, 20110526
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
ADHESION
ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY
BOUNDARY LAYERS
CARBON
CARBON FIBERS
CARBOXYLIC ACIDS
CHEMISTRY
ELECTRONS
ESTERS
FIBERS
FRACTURES
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
MORPHOLOGY
OXYGEN
RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY
RESINS
RUPTURES
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
SHEAR
SHEAR PROPERTIES
SURFACE PROPERTIES
SURFACE TREATMENTS
TOPOGRAPHY
X-RAY PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY