Preparation and interfacial properties of functionalised graphene oxide modified carbon fibre/epoxy resin matrix composites

ABSTRACT

The interfacial properties of carbon fibre (CF) reinforced epoxy resin composites are the key factors affecting the mechanical properties of the materials. To improve the interfacial adhesion between CF and epoxy resin, an effective CF surface modification method is proposed in this paper. The surface of graphene oxide (GO) was functionalised with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES), and then the functionalised graphene oxide (FGO) was grafted on the surface of CF. The surface roughness of modified CF was significantly improved by the SEM experiment. The effectiveness of grafting was verified by FTIR and XPS, and the chemical functional groups on the surface of modified CF were increased. The microstructure of the failure interface of the composites was observed, the modification did not reduce the tensile strength of CF, and the interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) of modified CF/ epoxy resin composite was increased by 39.91%. It was found that the CF modified by FGO was beneficial to the improvement of the interface properties of CF/epoxy resin composite. This has positive academic significance for improving the interfacial and mechanical properties of CF composites.

KEYWORDS:

• Carbon fibre
• graphene oxide
• interlaminar shear strength
• carbon fibre composites

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 52075280), and the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (grant number ZR2019ME088).