Abstract
Cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) are environmental-friendly nanofiller with high strength and lightweight. To improve the impact properties of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRPs), the application of CNF is expected. However, hydrophobic treatment was unavoidable due to its hydrophilicity. In this study, by adopting an aqueous solution of epoxy resin, the CFRP with CNF dispersion layer was fabricated. From the instrumented Charpy test, it was revealed that the waveform of impact force has two peaks, and the second peak was enlarged by the CNF dispersion layer. As a result, Charpy impact value of the CFRP was increased up to 6%.
Highlights
A novel method to enhance the impact properties of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) by using cellulose nanofiber (CNF) was developed.
By dispersing CNFs in an aqueous epoxy solution, hydrophobic treatment was eliminated.
Inserting the CNF dispersion layer increased the Charpy impact value of CFRP up to 6%.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Kazuhiro Kume, Mizuno Corporation, Takayuki Hayashi, Daiichi Kogyo Seiyaku Co., Ltd., Japan and Daio Paper Co., Ltd., Japan.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Credit author statement
Kazuaki Katagiri: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Investigation, Project administration, Writing – review & editing, Toshihiko Okumura: Methodology, Data curation, Investigation, Sonomi Kawakita: Data curation, Investigation, Hirosuke Sonomura: Investigation, Shinya Honda: Methodology, Writing – review & editing, Katsuhiko Sasaki: Methodology, Writing – review & editing, Supervision.