Effect of anodized carbon fiber surfaces on interfacial adhesion of carbon fiber-reinforced composites

The effect of anodic oxidation on high strength PAN-based carbon fibers has been studied in terms of surface functionality and surface energetics of the fiber surfaces, resulting in improving the mechanical properties of composites. According to FT-IR and XPS measurements, it reveals that the oxygen functional groups on fiber surfaces induced by an anodic oxidation largely influence the surface energetics of fibers or the mechanical interfacial properties of composites, such as the interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) of composites. According to the contact angle measurements based on the wicking rate of a test liquid, it is observed that anodic oxidation does lead to an increase in surface free energy of the carbon fibers, mainly due to the increase of its specific (or polar) component. From the surface energetic point of view, it is found that good wetting plays an important role in improving the degree of adhesion at interfaces between fiber and epoxy resin matrix of the resulting composites. Also, a direct linear relationship is shown between O_ls/C_ls ratio and ILSS or between specific component and ILSS of the composites for this system.