On the detection of carbon fibre storage contamination and its effect on the fibre–matrix interface

Abstract

Contamination caused by inappropriate carbon fibre (CF) storage may have an impact on their end use in reinforced composite materials. Due to the chemical complexity of CFs it is not easy to detect potential contaminants, especially at the early stage during manufacturing and handling. In this paper, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Surface Energy Analysis (IGC-SEA) were used to assess the surfaces of CFs stored in polyolefin zip-lock bags for possible contamination. Only after over 2 months in-bag storage, was XPS capable of detecting a minor increase in nitrogen on the CF surface while FTIR revealed the presence of fatty acid amides and fatty acids, both associated with the storage media. However neither of these techniques were sensitive enough to show significant evolution of the amount of contamination as a function of storage time. In contrast, IGC-SEA distinguished surface energy differences between CFs before and after storage. These differences were found to change as a function of storage time, which were attributed to increases in contamination amounts. Single fibre fragmentation tests indicated that the surface contamination had potential to disrupt the fibre-matrix interface. These findings provide a new method for assessing the surface contamination of CFs with potential application to other materials.

Surface Characterization of Carbonaceous Materials Using Inverse Gas Chromatography: A Review

“…Sorption free energy Coal [19] Activated carbon [20][21][22][23] Polymerized graphitic carbon nitride sheets [24] Carbon nanotubes [25][26][27][28] Graphene [29][30][31] Sorption enthalpy Activated carbon [20,22] Carbon fiber [32] Carbon nanotubes [17,25,33] Fluorographene [34,35] Graphene [31,36,37] Graphite [26,38] Sorption entropy Fluorographene [34,35] Graphene [31,36] Carbon nanotubes [25] Dispersive surface energy Coal [19] Activated carbon [20,23,39] Carbon black [37] Carbon fiber [32,[40][41][42][43][44] Carbon nanotubes [17,25,27,28,[45][46]…”

“…The IGC analysis is mainly considered as one of the standard methods for the surface characterization of CNTs with polymer blends. Gerencser et al [43] reported that the IGC is an efficient technique to characterize the surface properties of untreated and treated MWCNTs with the olefin maleic-anhydride-ester-amide copolymer (OMAEA) coupling agent. They have investigated the specific and dispersive surface energy (γ ab S and γ D S ) and acidic and basic component of the surface energy (γs+ and γs-) by using n-hexane, n-heptane, n-octane, n-nonane, chloroform, and toluene as test probe molecules.…”

“…The energetic heterogeneity of the unoxidized fiber is solely due to a range of dispersive energies, whereas the Contaminated carbon fiber (CF) may affect their end-use in reinforced composite materials. Li et al [43] investigated the surfaces of CFs, which were stored in polyolefin zip-lock bags for possible contamination at different storage times. The γ D S and γ ab S profiles of the CFs at different storage times are shown in Figure 6.…”

Carbonaceous Materials Coated Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer Matrix Composites

“…The sufficient amount of hydrogen bond and Van der Waals forces between the CF and matrix are essential throughout composite processing for strong interfacial adhesion. The fibre/matrix interfacial adhesion energy should be higher than the cohesive energy of the matrix [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. The high-performance polymeric composites’ mechanical properties can be improved by modifying CF surface and structure [ 21 , 22 ].…”