Interfacial studies of carbon fiber/epoxy composites using single fiber fragmentation test

J. Zhang, D. L. He, H. D. Wagner, E. Wiesel, J. B. Bai

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12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Single fiber fragmentation tests were carried out to measure the properties of the fiber-matrix interface in several carbon fiber (CFs)/epoxy composite systems. Four kinds of CFs were studied: (1) primary CFs (used as received); (2) desized CFs (sizing removed through thermal treatment); (3) resized CFs (deposited with epoxy sizing by solution); (4) carbon nanotube (CNT)-grafted CFs (grown with CNTs using a chemical vapour deposition method). The interfacial shear strength decreased by around 30% for the desized CFs and the CNT-grafted CFs compared with the pristine CFs. The value of interfacial shear strength for the resized CFs was 20% larger than that of the desized CFs. There is a good agreement between the results of single fiber fragmentation tests and that of contact angle tests.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)421-429
Number of pages9
JournalComposite Interfaces
Volume20
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2013
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • carbon fiber
  • composite
  • fragmentation
  • interface

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