In this study, chemical and physical factors governing adhesion were investigated to determine the underlying cause for inadequate fiber-matrix bonding between carbon fibers and vinyl ester polymers. Scanning tunneling microscopy of a family of fibers differing only in the level of surface treatment showed that surface roughness is minimized at the standard 100% treatment level and increases at treatment levels greater than 100%. A series of experiments where carbon fibers were exposed, individually or in combinations, to the vinyl ester initiator, accelerator, promotor, or catalyst found preferential absorption of some of these constituents on the fiber surface, which could lead to an interphase having properties different than the polymer bulk properties.
| Number of Pages : | 10 |
| Published : | 11/01/2000 |
