Influence of Fiber Surface Treatment on Hydrothermal Aging Behavior of a Woven Thermoplastic Laminate

• Published in: Fibers and polymers Vol. 22; no. 6; pp. 1633 - 1642
• Main Authors: Zhao, Defang, Hamada, Hiroyuki, Yang, Yuqiu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Seoul The Korean Fiber Society 01.06.2021; Springer Nature B.V; 한국섬유공학회
• Subjects: Aging; Bonding agents; Carbon fiber reinforced plastics; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Composite materials; Diffusion coefficient; Diffusion rate; Dynamic mechanical properties; Fiber reinforced polymers; Hot pressing; Interfacial bonding; Laminates; Mechanical properties; Moisture; Moisture absorption; Polyamide resins; Polymer Sciences; Polyurethane resins; Pressure molding; Storage modulus; Surface chemistry; Surface treatment; Water absorption; 섬유공학; Hygrothermal aging; Mechanical and dynamic mechanical property analysis; Surface treatment; Woven CF/PA6 laminates
• ISSN: 1229-9197; 1875-0052
• DOI: 10.1007/s12221-021-0796-1

A detailed investigation on the effects of hydrothermal aging on the mechanical and thermal performance of woven carbon-fiber-reinforced polyamide 6 (CF/PA6) laminates processed using hot compression molding is presented. A surface treatment with a polyurethane dispersion (PUD) agent is applied on CFs to enhance the interfacial bonding capability between the CF and PA6 matrix. The moisture uptake results indicate that untreated CF/PA6 laminates exhibit higher equilibrium moisture absorption ( M ∞ ), corrected diffusion coefficient ( D C ), and rate of diffusion ( k ) than treated CF/PA6 laminates, implying that the interface damage of untreated CF/PA6 laminates is more pronounced than that of treated CF/PA6 laminates. The mechanical performance of the CF/PA6 laminates reduces significantly after water absorption and hydrothermal aging. Nevertheless, PUD-treated composites exhibit higher remaining flexural property than the virgin composites, due to the improved durability of CF/PA6 interface, as verified by the scanning electron microscopy results. Dynamic mechanical properties (i.e., T g , storage modulus, and tan δ) of the treated CF/PA6 laminates degrade more slowly than those of the untreated CF/PA6 laminates. Finally, the relationships between flexural property retention and moisture absorption ratio (i.e., M t / M ∞ ), and between flexural property retention and tan δ for both types of CF/PA6 laminates are established.