Abstract
Interfacial adhesion and nondestructive behavior of electrodeposited (ED) carbon fiber rein-forced composites were evaluated using electro-micromechanical techniques and acoustic emission (AE). The interfacial shear strength (IFSS) of the ED carbon fiber/epoxy composites was higher than that of the untreated fiber. This might be expected because of the possibility of chemical or hydrogen bonding in an electrically adsorbed polymeric interlayer. The logarithmic electrical resistivity of the untreated single-carbon fiber composite increased suddenly to infinity when fiber fracture occurred, whereas that of the ED composite increased relatively gradually to infinity. This behavior may arise from the retarded fracture time due to enhanced IFSS. In single- and ten-carbon fiber composites, the number of AE signals coming from interlayer failure of the ED carbon fiber composite was much larger than that of the untreated composite. As the number of the each first fiber fractures increased in the ten-carbon fiber composite, the electrical resistivity increased stepwise, and the slope of the logarithmic electrical resistance increased.