THE CHEMISTRY OF CARBON-FIBER SURFACES AND ITS EFFECT ON INTERFACIAL PHENOMENA IN FIBER EPOXY COMPOSITES

The properties of the fibre/resin interface in carbon fibre/epoxy composites can play a dominant role in governing the overall performance of the material. Understanding the interactions occurring at the interface and being able to tailor them to give a desired composite property is of great importance. A variety of commercial treatments of carbon fibres have therefore been developed simply to improve fibre/resin adhesion. Many research groups have studied the effects of such treatments, correlating changes in surface chemistry with interfacial shear strength (fibre/resin bonding). This article reviews their work. It also proposes an improved plasma treatment method and suggests a way of obtaining a greater degree of control over interfacial properties in carbon fibre/epoxy composites.