• Composites Research
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.390-394
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• 2020

The carbon fiber has been damaged via tow spreading process for carbon fiber spread tow. The fiber damage is caused by friction between equipment and fibers or between fibers and fibers in the process of spreading. As a result, mechanical properties are decreased due to differences in process via material and equipment condition. Therefore, minimizing fiber damage have to be considered in the process. In this study, the change in carbon fiber pneumatic spreading process was observed by according to the filament count, sizing content of carbon fiber and process variables in spreading equipment (fiber tension at the beginning, air temperature in spreading zone, vacuum pressure in spreading zone). Tensile strength was evaluated using samples prepared under optimal conditions for each of the carbon fiber varieties, and mechanical properties were reduced due to damage on the carbon fiber.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.94-101
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• 2017

Tow Prepreg is the intermediate material for filament winding process that has been "pre-impregnated fiber tow" with resin system. As "dry filament winding" process emerges as a reliable alternative to conventional filament winding (called "wet filament winding") process, interest in tow prepreg as a material for dry filament winding is rising as well. In this article, we have reviewed the recent research trends in carbon fiber tow prepreg for high-performance rocket motor cases, fuel tanks for hydrogen vehicles and other high-quality commercial pressure vessels.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.13-18
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• 2024

To develop flexible electrode materials for wearable devices, we investigated the electrochemical characteristics of carbon fibers tow according to pretreatment. And an electrochemical non-enzymatic sensor was fabricated using glucose as a target. The carbon fibers tow was pretreated through desizing and activation processes, and activation was performed in two ways: chemical oxidation and electrochemical oxidation. Surface morphology of carbon fibers tow samples was observed by SEM and their electrochemical characteristics and sensing performance were investigated by cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and chronoamperometry. Carbon fibers tow samples showed improved electrochemical properties such as reduced R_et, ΔE_p, and increased I_p through pretreatment. And similar electrochemical properties were obtained with both activation methods. We selected electrochemically activated carbon fibers tow as the final electrode material for application of electrochemical sensor. The non-enzymatic glucose sensor based on this electrode has an enhanced sensitivity of 0.744 A/mM (in a linear range of 0.09899~3.75423 mM) and 0.330 mA/mM (3.75423~50 mM), respectively. Through this study, the possibility of using carbon fibers tow was confirmed as an electrode material. It is expected to be used as basic research for development of high-performance flexible electrode materials.

• Composites Research
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.28-36
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• 2004

Micro-tow deformation during forming of PVC foam-fabric composite sandwich structure is investigated to find out the correlation between forming condition and material deformation. The foams used in this research are PVC foams which have 4 different densities and the fabric composite is Carbon/epoxy prepreg which is plain weave (3k) as a skin material. Tow parameters such as crimp angle and tow amplitude are measured using microscope and a proper image tool and are compared with each other. In order to find out the effect of foam deformation during forming on tow deformation the compressive tests of foams are performed in three different environmental temperatures ($25^{\circ}C$, $80{\circ}C$, $125^{\circ}C$). The microscopic observation results show that the micro tow deformations are quite different from each other with respect to the foam density and forming pressure.

• 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.

• Composites Research
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.249-253
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• 2015

This paper reports a study on a method for achieving lightweight thermoplastic laminate composites referred to as tow spreading technology. Thickness of an unspread 12 K carbon fiber tow is reduced by increasing the tow width from 7 mm to 20 mm. The polypropylene (PP) film was used to stabilize and impregnate the spread tow, covering it into a partially consolidated prepreg: 12 K carbon fiber spread tow/PP. Laminates were fabricated from the spread tow prepreg and control laminate composites were produced from unspread tow prepreg consisting of 12 K carbon fiber and PP. The void content, tensile and flexural properties of the composite laminates were investigated. Consequently, the spread tow laminate composite exhibited lower void content and improved mechanical properties.

• Composites Research
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.341-345
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• 2020

We propose a measurement method for evaluating constituent contents of carbon fiber/epoxy composites through a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). The sample used in the test was taken from a strand specimen made of carbon fiber/epoxy tow prepreg, and the change in weight of the sample over time was measured in real time. Using a field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), we examine the thermal damage condition of the carbon fiber depending on whether resin was removed or not. We find that it was possible to test even a small amount of sample when using TGA vis-à-vis using a conventional muffle furnace. In addition, TGA enables the temperature and exposure time to be controlled, allowing the constituent contents of composite materials to be efficiently and quantitatively evaluated.

• Composites Research
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.38-46
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• 2004

This paper aims to correlate the micro-mechanical behaviour of tow geometry with applied in-plane forces during deformation of dry woven carbon-fibre fabric. These in-plane forces lead to differences in tow reorganisation during deformation and so changes in the way in which 'lock-up' occurs. In this paper, deformation of micro-mechanical parameters such as tow interval, crimp angle, change in tow amplitude and wavelength are investigated. To observe the micro-deformation of the fabric structure, appropriate specimens from bias extension and biaxial tests are sectioned and observed under the microscope. It was found that different loading conditions cause geometric deferences in the tow architecture. The variation in deformed tow geometry with shear angle is fitted using a simple parametric model.

• Composites Research
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.388-394
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• 2023

In composites manufacturing, increasing resin impregnation is a key way to speed up the manufacturing process and improve product quality. While resin improvement is important, simple fiber surface treatments can also improve resin flowability. In this study, different plasma treatment times were applied to carbon fiber fabrics to improve the impregnation between resin and fiber. Electrical resistivity measurements were used to evaluate the dispersion of resin in the fibers, which changed with plasma treatment. The effect of fiber surface treatment on resin spreadability could be observed in real time. When inserting a carbon fiber tow into the resin, the amount of resin that soaked into the tow was measured to objectively compare resin impregnation. Five minutes of plasma treatment improved the tensile and compressive strength of the composite by more than 50%, while reducing the void content and increasing the fire point impregnation flow rate. Finally, a dynamic flexural fatigue test was conducted using a portion of the composite used as an architectural composite part, and the composite part did not fail after one million cycles of a 3 kN load.

• Composites Research
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.315-320
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• 2020

In this study, when strand specimens were manufactured using an automatic winding device to obtain uniform strand specimens, analysis and test were conducted to investigate the effect of thermal expansion of the mandrel on strand specimens. Also, necessity of changing materials and mandrel configuration was checked. According to the results, strand specimen received unintended tension that was created by thermal expansion of the mandrel and this unintended tension depended on the curing temperature and position of specimens. Tensile test was conducted to check that initial tension affected on the performance of carbon fiber tow prepreg. All other conditions were fixed and only the initial tension was controlled at 40 N, 60 N, and 80 N. From the results of analysis and test, neither additional tension and tension deviation due to the thermal expansion of the mandrel and the initial tension difference had a significant effect on tensile test results, because carbon fiber had sufficiently high strength compared with tension. Therefore, it was confirmed that the change of the mandrel material and configuration of the automatic winding device was unnecessary.