Studies of electroless Ni-plating on surface properties of carbon fibers and mechanical interfacial properties of composites

The electroless plating of a metallic nickel on PAN-based carbon fiber surfaces was carried out to improve mechanical interfacial properties of the carbon fiber/epoxy resin composites which were unidirectionally fabricated by a prepregging method. In this work, the influence of Ni-P alloy concentration showing brittle-to-ductile transition was investigated on interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) and impact strength of the composites. The surface properties of carbon fibers were also measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). As the result, the O_1s/C_1s ratio or Ni and P amounts were increased with increasing electroless nickel plating time but the ILSS were not significantly improved. However, the impact properties was significantly improved in the presence of Ni-P alloy in the carbon fiber surface, resulting in an increase of the ductility of the composites.