• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.52-60
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• 2003

In this work, two types of Ni-plating, namely electrolytical and electroless Ni-platings on carbon fiber surfaces, were carried out to enhance the impact resistance of composites. And the comparison between electrolytical and electroless methods on their impact properties of composite system was studied. The surface properties of carbon fibers were characterized using XRD, SEM, and contact angle measurements. The impact behaviors were investigated using an Izod type impact tester. As experimental results, it was observed that electrolessly plated Ni layers had Ni-P alloys on carbon fiber surfaces as revealed by XRD, and electrolytically Ni-plated carbon fibers showed higher surface free energies than those of the electrolessly Ni-plated carbon fibers. In particular, the impact strengths of electrolessly Ni-plated carbon fibers-reinforced plastics were strongly increased. These results were probably due to the difference of wettabilities according to the different types of Ni-plating methods.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.1059-1066
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• 2009

Recently, the amount of thermosetting plastic wastes has increased with the production of reinforced plastic composites and causes serious environmental problems. The epoxy resins, one of the versatile thermosetting plastics with excellent properties, cannot be melted down and remolded as what is done in the thermoplastic industry. In this research, a series of experiments that decompose epoxy resin and recover carbon fibers from carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composites applied to railway vehicles was performed. We experimentally examined various decomposition processes and compared their decomposition efficiencies and mechanical property of recovered carbon fibers. For the prevention of tangle of recovered carbon fibers, each composites specimen was fixed with a Teflon supporter and no mechanical mixing was applied. Decomposition products were analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), gas chromatography mass spectrometer (GC-MS), and universal testing machine (UTM). Carbon fibers could be completely recovered from decomposition process using nitric acid aqueous solution, liquid-phase thermal cracking and pyrolysis. The tensile strength losses of the recovered carbon fibers were less than 4%.

• Composites Research
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.168-175
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• 2015

Recently, the applications of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRPs) have become broader than ever when it comes to such industries as automotive, ships, aerospace and military because of their lightweight-ness and high mechanical properties. Thermosetting plastics like epoxy are frequently used as the binding matrix in CFRPs due to their high hardness, wetting characteristics and low viscosity. However, they cannot melted and remolded. For this reason, thermosetting plastic wastes have caused serious environmental problems with the production of fiber reinforced plastics. Thus, many studies have focused on the carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastics (CFRTPs) and recycling carbon fiber. In this study, recycled carbon fiber (RCF) was prepared from CFRPs using a pyrolysis method, which was employed to separate resin and carbon fiber. The degree of decomposition for epoxy resin was confirmed from thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The RCF was cut and ground to prepare a carbon fiber composite sheet (CFCS). CFCS was manufactured by applying recycled carbon fibers and various thermoplastic fibers. Various characterizations were performed, including morphological analyses of surface and cross-section, mechanical properties, and crystallization enthalpy of CFCS at different cooling conditions.

• Composites Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.1-8
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• 2007

In this study, carbon fiber reinforced polymeric (CFRP) composites with different resin composition were manufactured and resin formulation in composite materials were presented through tensile tests for cryogenic use. Thermo-mechanical cyclic loading (up to 6 cycles) was applied to CFRP unidirectional laminate specimens from room temperature to $-150^{\circ}C$. Tensile tests were then performed at $-150^{\circ}C$ using an environmental test chamber. In addition, matrix-dominant properties such as the transverse and in-plane shear characteristics of each composite model were measured at $-150^{\circ}C$ to examine the effects of resin formulation on their interfacial properties. The tensile tests showed that the composite models with large amounts of bisphenol-A epoxy and CTBN modified rubber in their resin composition had good mechanical performance at cryogenic temperature (CT).

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.406-414
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• 2016

The lignin-based carbon nanofiber reinforced epoxy composite has been prepared by immersing carbon nanofiber mat in epoxy resin solution in order to evaluate the physical and mechanical properties. The thermal and mechanical properties of the carbon nanofiber reinforced epoxy composite were analyzed using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and tensile tester. It was found that the thermal properties of the carbon nanofiber reinforced epoxy composite improved, with its glass-transition temperature ($T_g$) increased from $90.7^{\circ}C$ ($T_g$ of epoxy resin itself) to $106.9^{\circ}C$. The tensile strengths of carbon nanofiber mats made from both lignin-g-PAN copolymer and PAN were 7.2 MPa and 9.4 MPa, respectively. The resulting tensile strength of lignin-based carbon nanofiber reinforced epoxy composite became 43.0 MPa, the six times higher than that of lignin-based carbon nanofiber mats. The carbon nanofibers were pulled out after the tensile test of the carbon nanofiber reinforced epoxy composite due to high tensile strength (478.8 MPa) of an individual carbon nanofiber itself as well as low interfacial adhesion between fibers and matrices, confirmed by the SEM analysis.

• Composites Research
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.215-222
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• 2017

The effect of a multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWNCT) on the adhesive properties and thermal properties of epoxy were studied by double lap-shear tests. Epoxy/MWCNT resins were prepared from a different amount of the MWCNT incorporated into the epoxy resins (araldite 2011). Steel plates and carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) were chosen as materials. Mechanical tests were performed by a universal testing machine (UTM). The analysis of thermal properties were conducted by a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) and a differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The fracture surface morphology was examined using a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical microscope. Compared to neat epoxy, it was found that the mechanical properties of epoxy/MWCNT resins are increased.

• Composites Research
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.365-370
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• 2017

Mechanical properties of carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites (CFRTPs) are affected by various factors. One of the them are poor compatibility of the epoxy sizing layer on the carbon fiber surface with thermoplastic matrix, which causes the inferior interfacial strength between fibers and matrix. In addition, the high molten-viscosity of thermoplastics attributes to the poor impregnation state. Consequently, many voids in the composite materials were generated, which leads to poor mechanical properties of the thermoplastic composites. In this study, the epoxy sizing on the carbon fiber surface was removed and the polyamide 6,6 solution was coated on the de-sized carbon fiber surface to improve the impregnation state and mechanical properties. Interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) of CFRPTs was estimated by implementing short beam shear tests. In addition, flexural strength was measured and the impregnation state of the composites was evaluated by calculating void content.

• Composites Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.11-16
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• 2011

Retention of interfacial shear strength (IFSS) of polymer composites at cryogenic temperature application is very important. In this work, single carbon tiber reinforced epoxy compositc was used to evaluate IFSS and apparent modulus under room and cryogenic temperatures. The property change of carbon and selected epoxy for particularly cryogenic temperature application were tested in tension and compression. Tensile strength and elongation of carbon fiber decreased at cryogenic temperature, whereas tensile modulus was almost same. On the other hand, epoxy matrix showed the increased tensile strength but decreased elongation. It can be due to maximum thermal contraction existing free volume in cryogenic temperature. IFSS increased up to $-10^{\circ}C$ and then decreased steadily. However, IFSS at cryogenic temperature was still similar to that at room temperature. This result is very useful to cryogenic application since selected epoxy toughness and interfacial adhesion can keep at such low temperature.

• Composites Research
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.232-238
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• 2015

As a new method to predict the degree of dispersion in carbon nanocomposites, the electrical resistance (ER) method has been evaluated. After CNT epoxy resin was dropped on CF tow, the change in electrical resistance of carbon fiber tow was measured to evaluate dispersion condition in CNT epoxy resin. Good dispersion of CNTs in carbon nanocomposite exhibited low change in ER due to wetted resin penetrated on CF tow. However, because CNT network was formed among CFs, non-uniform dispersion occurred due to nanoparticle filtering effect by CF tow. The change in ER for poor dispersion exhibited large ER signal change. The change in ER was used for the dispersion evaluation of CNT epoxy resin. Correlation between interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) and dispersion condition by ER method was established. Good CNT dispersion in nanocomposites led to good interfacial properties of fiberreinforced nanocomposites.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.737-742
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• 1994

The fracture energy of glass fiber/carbon fiber/epoxy resin hybrid composite system was investigated in the aspect of fracture mechanism. Epoxy resin matrix was DGEBA-MDA-SN-HQ system. On the interface of glass fiber and matrix, post debone friction energy provided a major contribution to the fracture energy, and debonding energy and pull-out energy were of the similar value. In the case of fracture on the interface of carbon fiber and matrix, pull-out energy was the major contributor.