Effect of Accelerated Aging Temperature under Artificial Seawater on the Properties of Carbon Fiber/Epoxy Composites and the Erosion Mechanism

In order to explore the effect of artificial accelerated aging temperature on the performance of carbon fiber/epoxy resin composites,we used artificial seawater as the aging medium,designed the aging environment of seawater at different temperatures under normal pressure,and studied the aging behavior of carbon fiber/epoxy composites.The infrared spectroscopy results show that,with the increase of aging temperature,the degree of hydrolysis of the composite is greater.At the same time,after 250 days of aging of artificial seawater at regular temperature,40 and 60 ℃,the moisture absorption rates of composite materials were 0.45%,0.63%,and 1.05%,and the retention rates of interlaminar shear strength were 91%,78%,and 62%,respectively.It is shown that the temperature of the aging environment has a significant impact on the hygroscopic behavior and mechanical properties of the composite,that is,the higher the temperature,the faster the moisture absorption of the composite,and the faster the decay of the mechanical properties of the composite.

Study of the Diffusion Behavior of Seawater Absorption in Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes/Halloysite Nanotubes Hybrid Nanofillers Modified Epoxy-Based Glass/Carbon Fiber Composites

In the maritime industry, cost-effective and lightweight Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites offer excellent mechanical properties, design flexibility, and corrosion resistance. However, their reliability in harsh seawater conditions is a concern. Researchers address this by exploring three approaches: coating fiber surfaces, hybridizing fibers and matrices with or without nanofillers, and interply rearrangement. This study focuses on evaluating the synergistic effects of interply rearrangement of glass/carbon fibers and hybrid nanofillers, specifically Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and Halloysite nanotubes (HNT). The aim is to enhance impact properties by minimizing moisture absorption. Hybrid nanocomposites with equal-weight proportions of two nanofillers: 0 wt.%, 1 wt.%, and 2 wt.% were exposed to seawater for 90 days. Experimental data was subjected to modelling through the application of Predictive Fick’s Law. The study found that the hybrid composite containing 2 wt.% hybrid nanofillers exhibited a 22.10% increase in impact performance compared to non-modified counterparts. After 90 days of seawater aging, the material exhibited enhanced resistance to moisture absorption (15.74%) and minimal reduction in impact strength (8.52%) compared to its dry strength, with lower diffusion coefficients.

Carbon Fiber Breakage Mechanism in Aluminum(Al)/Carbon Fibers(CFs) Composite Sheet during Accumulative Roll Bonding(ARB) Process

We put forward a method of fabricating Aluminum(Al)/carbon fibers(CFs) composite sheets by the accumulative roll bonding(ARB) method. The finished Al/CFs composite sheet has CFs and pure Al sheets as sandwich and surface layers. After cross-section observation of the Al/CFs composite sheet, we found that the CFs discretely distributed within the sandwich layer. Besides, the tensile test showed that the contribution of the sandwich CFs layer to tensile strength was less than 11% compared with annealed pure Al sheet. With ex-situ observation of the CFs breakage evolution with-16%,-32%, and-45% rolling reduction during the ARB process, the plastic instability of the Al layer was found to bring shear damages to the CFs. At last, the bridging strengthening mechanism introduced by CFs was sacrificed. We provide new insight into and instruction on Al/CFs composite sheet preparation method and processing parameters.

Microwave Absorption and Mechanical Properties of Short-cutted Carbon Fiber/glass Fiber Hybrid Veil Reinforced Epoxy Composites

This work aims at investigating the microwave absorption and mechanical properties of short-cutted carbon fiber/glass fiber hybrid veil reinforced epoxy composites.The short-cutted carbon fibers(CFs)/glass fibers(GFs)hybrid veil were prepared by papermaking technology,and composites liquid molding was employed to manufacture CFs/GFs hybrid epoxy composites.The microstructure,microwave absorbing properties and mechanical properties of the hybrid epoxy composites were studied by using SEM,vector network analyzer and universal material testing,respectively.The reflection coefficient of the composites were calculated by the measured complex permittivity and permeability in the X-band(8.2-12.4 GHz)range.The optimum microwave absorption properties can be obtained when the content of CFs in the hybrid veil is 6 wt%and the thickness of the composites is 2 mm,the minimum reflection coefficient of-31.8 dB and the effective absorption bandwidth is 2.1 GHz,which is ascribed to benefitting impedance matching characteristic and dielectric loss of the carbon fiber.Simultaneously the tensile strength and modulus can achieve 104.0 and 2.98GPa,demonstrating that the CFs/GFs hybrid epoxy composites can be a promising candidate of microwave absorbing materials with high mechanical properties.

Durability Testing of Composite Aerospace Materials Based on a New Polymer Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Epoxy Resin

In this study,the durability of a new polymer carbonfiber-reinforced epoxy resin used to produce composite material in the aerospacefield is investigated through analysis of the corrosion phenomena occurring at the microscopic scale,and the related infrared spectra and thermal properties.It is found that light and heat can con-tribute to the aging process.In particular,the longitudinal tensile strength displays a non-monotonic trend,i.e.,itfirst increases and then decreases over time.By contrast,the longitudinal compressive and inter-laminar shear strengths do not show significant changes.It is also shown that the inter-laminar shear strength of carbonfiber/epoxy resin composites with inter-laminar hybrid structure is better than that of pure carbonfiber materials.The related resistance to corrosion can be improved by more than 41%.

Kinetic Study of Resin-Curing on Carbon Fiber/Epoxy Resin Composites by Microwave Irradiation

Microwave processing has great potential for improving composite manufacturing such as reduction of curing time, energy requirements and operational costs. In this paper, the effects of microwave irradiation for resin-curing of carbon fiber/epoxy resin composite that was composed of discontinuous carbon fibers of 130 μm or 3 mm were investigated. The mechanical properties of carbon fiber/epoxy resin composite cured by microwave irradiation for 20 min at 120°C were similar to ones of the sample prepared by conventional oven for 180 min at 120°C. Microwavecured carbon fiber/epoxy resin composite had higher glass transition temperature than the one prepared by conventional oven. The relation between curing time and flexural modulus indicated that the curing velocity of microwave-irradiated carbon fiber/epoxy resin composite was 9 times faster than the one prepared by conventional oven. Furthermore, activation energies for resincuring reaction on microwave and conventional-cured carbon fiber/epoxy resin composite were estimated. The resin-curing reaction in carbon fiber/epoxy resin composite was promoted by microwave irradiation.

Effect of electropolymer sizing of carbon fiber on mechanical properties of phenolic resin composites

Carbon fiber/phenolic resin composites were reinforced by the carbon fiber sized with the polymer films of phenol, m-phenylenediamine or acrylic acid, which was electropolymerized by cyclic voltammetry or chronopotentiometry. The contact angles of the sized carbon fibers with deionized water and diiodomethane were measured by the wicking method based on the modified Washburn equation, to show the effects of the different electropolymer film on the surface free energy of the carbon fiber after sizing by the electropolymerization. Compared with the unsized carbon fiber, which has 85.6°of contact angle of water, 52.2°of contact angle of diiodomethane, and 33.1 mJ/m2 of surface free energy with 29.3 mJ/m2 of dispersive components (γL) and 3.8 mJ/m2 of polar components (γsp), respectively. It is found that the electropolymer sized carbon fiber tends to reduce the surface energy due to the decrease of dispersiveγL with the increase of the polymer film on the surface of the carbon fiber that plays an important role in improving the mechanical properties of carbon/phenolic resin composites. Compared with the phenolic resin composites reinforced by the unsized carbon fiber, the impact, flexural and interlaminar shear strength of the phenolic resin composites were improved by 44 %, 68% and 87% when reinforced with the carbon fiber sized by the electropolymer of m-phenylenediamine, 66%, 100%, and 112% by the electropolymer of phenol, and 20%, 80 %, 100% by the electropolymer of acrylic acid. The results indicate the skills of electropolymerization may provide a feasible method for the sizing of carbon fiber in a composite system, so as to improve the interfacial performance between the reinforce materials and the matrix and to increase the mechanical properties of the composites.

Evolution of Physical and Chemical Properties of Phenolic Resin-Based Carbon/Carbon Composites Reinforced with Short Discrete Fibers during Pyrolysis

In the present work, novolac phenolic resin-based composites reinforced with short discrete carbon fibers were pyrolized at different temperatures from 400℃ to 900℃. Their physical and chemical properties were studied, linterfacial bonding between the matrix and carbon fiber and its influence on mechanical properties of analyzed composites were analyzed. Experimental results demonstrated strengthening of interfacial bonding with increase of pyrolysis temperature. Evolution of failure behavior was observed.

Development of Hybrids Composites of Carbon and Aramid Fibers to Reinforce Matrix of Epoxy Resins Part I

Composite materials may be composed of several types of fiber and resin.The design of hybrid composites intends to improve the physico-mechanical properties of this kind of materials,compared to standard composites,which consist of epoxy resin matrixes and carbon fibers,which presents low impact resistance.Our goal was the development and characterization of a hybrid material composed of two kinds of fibers,carbon and Kevlar,in the fabric format,joined by epoxy resin matrix.The standard composition is the Composition 1:containing 55%-60%carbon fiber and 40%-45%epoxy resin.The hybrid composite is the Composition 2:that contains 30%-33%carbon fiber,25%-27%Kevlar fiber and 40%-45%of epoxy resin.The composite plates were prepared using a laminator machine and later they were process in a vacuum bag and cured in oven.The study aimed at comparing the physical and mechanical properties of these materials.The mechanical tests were focus on measurements of the tensile,flexural and impact charpy stresses,and physics tests by measures of bulk densities.Through these procedures,we hope to find out data that may be useful for a partial characterization of these products for applications in the aerospace industry.

Impact Responses of the Carbon Fiber Fabric Reinforced Composites

To study the response characteristics of the carbon fiber fabric reinforced composites under impact loading, one dimensional strain impact test, multi gauge technique and Lagrange analysis method are used. The decaying rule of the stress σ , strain ε , strain rate ε · and density ρ with time and space is obtained. By the theory of dynamics, the impact response characteristics of the material is analyzed and discussed.

Study of damage behavior and repair effectiveness of patch repaired carbon fiber laminate under quasi-static indentation loading

Damage caused due to low-velocity impacts in composites leads to substantial deterioration in their residual strength and eventually provokes structural failure.This work presents an experimental investigation on the effects of different patch and parent laminate stacking sequences on the enhancement of impact strength of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers(CFRP)composites by utilising the adhesively bonded external patch repair technique.Damage evolution study is also performed with the aid of Acoustic Emission(AE).Two different quasi-isotropic configurations were selected for the parent laminate,viz.,[45°/45°/0°/0°]s and[45°/0°/45°/0°]s.Quasi Static Indentation(QSI)test was performed on both the pristine laminates,and damage areas were detected by using the C-scan inspection technique.Damaged laminates were repaired by using a single-sided patch of two different configurations,viz.,[45°/45°/45°/45°]and[45°/0°/0°/45°],and employing a circular plug to fill the damaged hole.Four different combinations of repaired laminates with two configurations of each parent and patch laminate were produced,which were further subjected to the QSI test.The results reveal the effectiveness of the repair method,as all the repaired laminates show higher impact resistance compared to the respective pristine laminates.Patches of[45°/0°/0°/45°]configuration when repaired by taking[45°/45°/0°/0°]s and[45°/0°/45°/0°]s as parents exhibited 68%and 73%higher peak loads,respectively,than the respective pristine laminates.Furthermore,parent and patch of configuration[45°/0°/45°/0°]s and[45°/0°/0°/45°],respectively,attain the highest peak load,whereas[45°/45°/0°/0°]s and[45°/45°/45°/45°]combinations possess the most gradual decrease in the load.

Effect of Rare Earths on Tribological Properties of Carbon Fibers Reinforced PTFE Composites

Carbon fibers （CF） were surface treated with air-oxidation and rare earths （RE）, respectively. The effect of RE surface treatment on tensile strength and tribological properties of CF reinforced polytetrafluoroethylene （PTFE） composites was invest/gated. Experimental results revealed that RE was superior to air ox/dation in improving the tensile strength, elongation, and the tensile modulus of CF reinforced PTFE （CF/PTFE） composite. Compared to the untreated and air-oxidated CF/PTFE composite, the RE treated composite had the lowest friction coefficient and specific wear rate under a given applied load and reciprocating sliding frequency. The RE treatment effectively improved the interfacial adhesion between CF and PTFE. With strong interfacial coupling, the carbon fibers carried most of the load, and direct contact and adhesion between PTFE and the counterpart were reduced, accordingly the friction and wear properties of the composite were improved.

Interfacial Properties Modification of Carbon Fiber/Polyarylacetylene Composites

This work was dedicated to performing surface oxidation and coating treatments on carbon fibers （CF） and investigating the changes of fiber surface properties after these treatments, including surface composition, relative volume of functional groups, and surface topography with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS） and atom force microscopy （AFM） technology. The results show that, after oxidation treatments, interfacial properties between CF and non-polar polyarylacetylene （PAA） resin are remarkably modified by removing weak surface layers and increasing fiber surface roughness. Coating treatment by high char phenolic resin solution after oxidation makes interface of CF/PAA composites to be upgraded and the interfacial properties further bettered.

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON PEK -C MODIFIED EPOXIES AND THE CARBON FIBER COMPOSITES FOR AEROSPACE APPLICATION

The morphological structure of various epoxies toughened with a special amorphous thermoplastic PEK-C and their carbon fiber composites were studied by using SEM. For both cases, phase separation and inversion took place to form fine epoxy-rich globules dispersing in the PEK-C matrix, in which the epoxy-rich phase had the absolutely higher volume fraction. The phase structure and the interfacial properties were also studied by means of FTIR, DSC, and DMTA as well. An accompanying mechanical determination revealed that an improved toughness was achieved both in the blend casts and in the carbon fiber composites. A composite structural model was hence suggested.

On the liquid-phase technology of carbon fiber/aluminum matrix composites

The main problems with the liquid-phase technology of carbon fiber/aluminum matrix composites include poor wetting of the fiber with liquid aluminum and formation of aluminum carbide on the fibers’surface.This paper aims to solve these problems.The theoretical and experimental dependence of porosity on the applied pressure were determined.The possibility of obtaining a carbon fiber/aluminum matrix composite wire with a strength value of about 1500 MPa was shown.The correlation among the strength of the carbon fiber reinforced aluminum matrix composite,the fracture surface,and the degradation of the carbon fiber surface was discussed.

Improved wettability and mechanical properties of metal coated carbon fiber-reinforced aluminum matrix composites by squeeze melt infiltration technique

In order to improve the wettability and bonding performance of the interface between carbon fiber and aluminum matrix,nickel-and copper-coated carbon fiber-reinforced aluminum matrix composites were fabricated by the squeeze melt infiltration technique.The interface wettability,microstructure and mechanical properties of the composites were compared and investigated.Compared with the uncoated fiber-reinforced aluminum matrix composite,the microstructure analysis indicated that the coatings significantly improved the wettability and effectively inhibited the interface reaction between carbon fiber and aluminum matrix during the process.Under the same processing condition,aluminum melt was easy to infiltrate into the copper-coated fiber bundles.Furthermore,the inhibited interface reaction was more conducive to maintain the original strength of fiber and improve the fiber−matrix interface bonding performance.The mechanical properties were evaluated by uniaxial tensile test.The yield strength,ultimate tensile strength and elastic modulus of the copper-coated carbon fiber-reinforced aluminum matrix composite were about 124 MPa,140 MPa and 82 GPa,respectively.In the case of nickel-coated carbon fiber-reinforced aluminum matrix composite,the yield strength,ultimate tensile strength and elastic modulus were about 60 MPa,70 MPa and 79 GPa,respectively.The excellent mechanical properties for copper-coated fiber-reinforced composites are attributed to better compactness of the matrix and better fiber−matrix interface bonding,which favor the load transfer ability from aluminam matrix to carbon fiber under the loading state,giving full play to the bearing role of carbon fiber.

Piezoresistivity in Carbon Fiber Reinforced Cement Based Composites

The results of some interesting investigation on the piezoresistivity of carbon fiber reinforced cement based composites (CFRC) are presented with the prospect of developing a new nondestructive testing method to assess the integrity of the composite. The addition of short carbon fibers to cement-based mortar or concrete improves the structural performance and at the same time significantly decreases the bulk electrical resistivity. This makes CFRC responsive to the smart behavior by measuring the resistance change with uniaxial pressure. The piezoresistivity of CFRC under different stress was studied, at the same time the damage occurring inner specimens was detected by acoustic emission as well. Test results show that there exists a marking pressure dependence of the conductivity in CFRC, in which the so-called negative pressure coefficient of resistive (NPCR) and positive pressure coefficient of resistive (PPCR) are observed under low and high pressure. Under constant pressures, time-dependent resistivity is an outstanding characteristic for the composites, which is defined as resistance creep. The breakdown and rebuild-up process of conductive network under pressure may be responsible for the pressure dependence of resistivity.

Mechanical Properties of Mo Fiber-reinforced Resin Mineral Composites with Different Mass Ratio of Resin and Hardener

Mo fibers were added to RMC with different mass ratios of resin and hardener to improve its mechanical properties. The influences of fiber surface state and hardener content on interface bonding strength and mechanical properties of RMC were studied, respectively. Furthermore, strain values of typical measuring points on samples of Mo fiber reinforced RMC(MFRRMC) under different loads were obtained by experiments and finite element analysis. The experimental results prove that scrap Mo fibers can improve interface bonding strength and mechanical properties of RMC better than new smooth Mo fibers because of the discharge pits randomly distributed on the surface of scrap fibers. With the decrease of hardener content, not only interface bonding strength between fiber and matrix, but also compression and flexural strength of MFRRMC increase firstly and then decrease. The properties are best while the mass ratio of resin and hardener reaches 4:1. It is indicated that finite element calculation data basically agree with experimental data by comparison of strain values on typical measuring points, which can provide an important intuitive reference for successive study on other mechanical properties of MFRRMC, validating the correctness of simulation method as well.

Micro Model of Carbon Fiber/Cyanate Ester Composites and Analysis of Machining Damage Mechanism

Machining damage occurs on the surface of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites during processing. In the current simulation model of CFRP, the initial defects on the carbon fiber and the periodic random distribution of the reinforcement phase in the matrix are not considered in detail, which makes the characteristics of the cutting model significantly different from the actual processing conditions. In this paper, a novel three-phase model of carbon fiber/cyanate ester composites is proposed to simulate the machining damage of the composites. The periodic random distribution of the carbon fiber reinforced phase in the matrix was realized using a double perturbation algorithm. To achieve the stochastic distribution of the strength of a single carbon fiber, a novel method that combines the Weibull intensity distribution theory with the Monte Carlo method is presented. The mechanical properties of the cyanate matrix were characterized by fitting the stress-strain curves, and the cohesive zone model was employed to simulate the interface. Based on the model, the machining damage mechanism of the composites was revealed using finite element simulations and by conducting a theoretical analysis. Furthermore, the milling surfaces of the composites were observed using a scanning electron microscope, to verify the accuracy of the simulation results. In this study, the simulations and theoretical analysis of the carbon fiber/cyanate ester composite processing were carried out based on a novel three-phase model, which revealed the material failure and machining damage mechanism more accurately.

Determination of Water Diffusion Coefficients and Dynamics in Adhesive/Carbon Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Resin Composite Joints

To determinate the water diffusion coefficients and dynamics in adhesive/carben fiber reinforced epoxy resin composite joints, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis（EDX） is used to establish the content change of oxy- gen in the adhesive in adhesive/carbon fther reinforced epoxy resin composite joints. As water is made up of oxygen and hydrogen, the water diffusion coefficients and dynamics in adhesive/carben fiber reinforced epoxy resin composite joints can be obtained from the change in the content of oxygen in the adhesive during humidity aging, via EDX analy-sis. The authors have calculated the water diffusion coefficients and dynamics in the adhesive/carbon fiber reinforced epoxy resin composite joints with the aid of beth energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and elemental analysis. The de- termined results with EDX analysis are almost the same as those determined with elemental analysis and the results al- so show that the durability of the adhesive/carbon fther reinforced epoxy resin composite joints subjected to silane cou- pling agent treatment is better than those subjected to sand paper burnishing treatment and chemical oxidation treat- ment.