Study on the Interfacial Behavior of Clay-Coated Carbon Fiber-Reinforced PEI Composites

Abstract

In this article, based on the surface chemical treatment of carbon fiber, a clay coating process was developed for the surface modification of the carbon fiber to obtain a controlled interface between carbon fiber and polyetherimide (PEI) matrix in the composites system. SEM, XPS spectrum and contact angle measure reveal that the clay coating can improve the surface roughness of the carbon fiber surface for a favorable wettability with the matrix, which can also improve the interfacial adhesion of the composites. Experimental results show that the interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) and the three-point bending (TPB) of the composites reinforced by the carbon fiber coated with the clay have been enhanced.

Keywords:

• Carbon fiber
• ILSS
• TPB
• XPS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by 973 Program (2011CB711005), NSFTJ (11JCZDJC16900), Shanghai College Young Teacher Training Program (shhs008), 973 Program (2010CB734103), The National Natural Science Foundation of China (71101090), Shanghai Education Committee Projects (J50604), Shanghai Education Committee Projects (12ZZ148), and Ministry of Communications Research Project (2009-329-810-020).