Effects of supercritical carbon dioxide on interfacial properties of carbon fiber

Abstract

In this paper, a new treatment method based on polyacrylonitrile (PAN) based carbon fiber treated by supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO 2) is proposed. This method aiming to obtain a controlled interface is green and pollutionless. The surface state of carbon fibers both untreated and treated on different temperature was studied by using SEM, AFM and XPS. The results show that SCCO 2 can erode the surface of carbon fibers. Roughness of modified carbon fiber is higher than that of the untreated. Interfacial properties of the treated carbon fiber /epoxy microcomposites were improved. Interfacial shear strength (ILSS) of CFRP shows that treated carbon fiber /epoxy at a lower temperature can be increased by 17.35%, which means that an effect of optimized interface is obtained. © (2012) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.