Physicochemical,
surface, and mechanical properties of three batches
of T800 grade carbon fibers (CFs) treated with three kinds of sizing
agents and Toray T800H CFs were characterized to study the effect
of sizing agents on surface properties. Scanning electron microscopy
for morphology, atomic force microscopy calculations, and results
for the content of sizing agents showed that sizing agent B improved
the surface roughness and CFs with high content of sizing agent always
presented small surface roughness in a certain content range 1.2–1.6%.
Surface energy of CFs was calculated by Young’s contact angle
using the test results with water and glycol, and contact angles with
LY-1 and modified-AC531 were also acquired. The results proved that
CFs of sizing agent group B had the highest average surface energy
and the lowest average contact angles with both LY-1 and modified-AC531.
From both single-filament and tensile strength test results, the average
strength of CFs of sizing agent group B was found to be the lowest,
which indicated that sizing agent B had an influence on tensile strength
decrease of T800 grade CFs. Comparing the results of interfacial shear
strength both in a natural dry state and after hygrothermal treatment,
high surface energy was found to be the key element to obtain high
interfacial adhesion between T800 grade CFs and bismaleimide, and
high surface roughness and low contact angle also played important
roles. Among sizing agents A, B, and C, A had an effect on the interfacial
shear strength decrease of CFs in the natural dry state, while C had
that after hygrothermal treatment.