EFFECT OF CARBON FIBER SURFACE PROPERTIES ON FIBER-MATRIX ADHESION OF THE COMPOSITES

Electrochemical surface treatment of PAN-based carbon fibers in acidic electrolyte has been studied in increasing the surface functional groups on fiber surfaces for the improvement of fiber-matrix adhesion of the resulting composites. According to the FT-IR and XPS measurements, it reveals that the oxygen functional groups on fibers are largely influence on the composite mechanical behaviors, whereas the nitrogen functional groups are not affected in the system. In this work, a good correlation between surface functionality and mechanical properties is established.