• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.672-678
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• 2011

In this work, carbon fibers were electrolessly Ni-plated in order to investigate the effect of metal plating on the electromagnetic shielding effectiveness (EMI-SE) of Ni-coated carbon fibers-reinforced epoxy matrix composites. The surfaces of carbon fibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Electric resistance of the composites was tested using a 4-point-probe electric resistivity tester. The EMI-SE of the composites was evaluated by means of the reflection and adsorption methods. From the results, it was found that the EMI-SE of the composites enhanced with increasing Ni plating time and content. In high frequency region, the EMI-SE didn't show further increasing with high Ni content (Ni-CF 10 min) compared to the Ni-CF 5 min sample. In conclusion, Ni content on the carbon fibers can be a key factor to determine the EMI-SE of the composites, but there can be an optimized metal content at a specific electromagnetic frequency region in this system.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.223-228
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• 2013

In this work, the grow of carbon nanotube (CNT) on carbon fiber was introduced on PAN-based carbon fibers for the enhancement of mechanical interfacial strength of carbon fibers-reinforced composites. The surface properties of carbon fibers were determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and mechanical interfacial properties of the composites were studied by interlaminar shear strength (ILSS). From the results, it was found that the mechanical interfacial properties of CNT-carbon fibers-reinforced composites (CNT-CFRPs) enhanced with decreasing the CNT content. The excessive CNT content can lead the failure due to the interfacial separation between fibers and matrices in this system. In conclusion, the optimum CNT content on carbon fiber surfaces can be a key factor to determine the mechanical interfacial properties of the CNT-CFRPs.

• Carbon letters
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.159-163
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• 2004

The polymer-ceramic hybrid, known as 'ceramer', was synthesized by a sol-gel process by incorporating different amount of alkoxide as source of silicon in resorcinol-formaldehyde in presence of basic catalyst to get different percentage of silicon in ultimate carbonized composites. FTIR of the ceramer confirms that it is a network of Si-O-Si, Si-O-$CH_2$ and Si-OH type groups linked with benzene ring. Different amount of silicon in the ceramer exhibits varying temperature of thermal stability and lower coefficient of thermal expansion as compared to pure resorcinol-formaldehyde resin. The lower value of CTE in ceramer is due to existence of silica and resorcinol -formaldehyde in co-continuous phase. Unidirectional composites prepared with ceramer matrix and high-strength carbon fibers show lower value of flexural strength at polymer stage as compared to those prepared with resorcinol-formaldehyde resin. However, after heat treatment to $1450^{\circ}C$, the ceramer matrix composites show large improvement in the mechanical properties, i.e. with 7% silicon in the ceramer, the flexural strength is enhanced by 100% and flexural modulus value by 40% as compared to that of pure resorcinol-formaldehyde resin matrix composites.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 1999.11a
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• pp.160-163
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• 1999

The mechanical properties and failure behaviour of carbon/phenolic composites were inverstigated by tension and compression. Carbon/phenolic composites were fabricated by infiltration of matrix into 8 harness satin woven fabric of PAN-based carbon fibers. The tensile and compressive tests were performed at 25℃ under air atmosphere and, at 400℃ and 700℃ under N₂ atmosphere. The tensile strengths of carbon/phenolic composites in with-laminar/0° warp direction were about 10 times higher than those in with-laminar/45° warp direction, which was analyzed due to a change of fracture mode from fiber pull-out by shear to tensile fracture of fibers. The fracture of carbon/phenolic composites in with-laminar/45° direction was analyzed due to delamination by buckling. Tensile and compressive strength of carbon/phenolic composites decreased to about 50% at 400℃, and to about 10% at 700℃ compared to that at room temperature. The main reason for the decrease of tensile or compressive strength with increasing temperature was analyzed due to a reduction of bond strength between fibers and matrix resulting from thermal degradation of phenolic resin.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.148-154
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• 2010

It is necessary to develop new methods to prevent catastrophic failure of structural material in order to avoid accidents and conserve natural and energy resources. Design of intelligent materials with a self-diagnosing function to prevent fatal fracture of structural materials was achieved by smart composites consisting of carbon fiber tows or carbon powders with a small value of ultimate elongation and glass fiber tows with a large value of ultimate elongation. The changes in electrical resistance of CF-GFRP/GFRP (carbon fiber and glass fiber-reinforced plastics/glass fiber-reinforced plastics) composites increased abruptly with increasing strain, and a tremendous change was seen at the transition point where carbon fiber tows were broken. Therefore, the composites were not to monitor damage from the early stage. On the other hand, the change in electrical resistance of CP-GFRP/GFRP (carbon powder dispersed in glass fiber-reinforced plastics/glass fiber-reinforced plastics) composites increased almost linearly in proportion to strain. CP-GFRP/GFRP composites are superior to CF-GFRP/GFRP composites in terms of their capability to monitor damage by measuring change in electrical resistance from the early stage of damage. However, the former was inferior to the latter as an application because of the difficulties of mass production and high cost. A method based on monitoring damage by measuring changes in the electrical resistance of structural materials is promising for improved reliability of the material.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1991.10a
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• pp.99-106
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• 1991

Result of an experimental study on the manufacture, the mechanical properties and waterightness of pitch-based carbon fiber reinforced fly ash.cement composites are presented in this paper. The carbon fiber reinforced fly ash.cement composites using early strength cement, silica powder and a small amount of stylene butadiene rubber latex are prepared with carbon fiber, foaming agents and mixing conditions. As a result, the mechanical and plysical properties such as compresive, tensile and flectural strengths, watertightness and cement composites are improved by using a small amount of stylene butadiene rubber latex.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2008.11b
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• pp.406-415
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• 2008

Recently, the amount of thermosetting plastic wastes have increased with the production of reinforced plastic composites and causes serious environmental problems. The epoxy composites, 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 recovers carbon fibers from carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composites for train body 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%.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.2-6
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• 2010

The sizing treatments of PAN-based carbon fiber surfaces were carried out in order to improve the interfacial adhesion in the carbon fibers/nylon6 composite system. The parameter to characterize the wetting performance and surface free energy of the sized fibers were determined by a contact angle method. The mechanical interfacial properties of the composites were investigated using critical stress intensity factor ($K_{IC}$). The cross-section morphologies of sized CFs/nylon6composites were observed by SEM. As the experimental results, it was observed that silane-based sizing treated carbon fibers showed higher surface free energies than other sizing treatments. In particular, the KIC of the sizing-treated carbon fibers reinforced composites showed higher values than those of untreated carbon fibers-reinforced composites. This result indicated that the increase in the surface free energy of the fibers leads to the improvement of the mechanical interfacial properties of carbon fibers/nylon6 composites.

• Composites Research
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.415-420
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• 2020

The interfacial properties in carbon fiber composites, which control the overall mechanical properties of the composites, are very important. Effective interface enhancement work is conducted on the modification of the carbon fiber surface with carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Nonetheless, most surface modifications methods do have their own drawbacks such as high temperatures with a range of 600~1000℃, which should be implemented for CNT growth on carbon fibers that can cause carbon fiber damages affecting deterioration of composites properties. This study includes the use of in-situ interfacial polymerization of polyamide 610/CNT to fabricate the carbon fiber composites. The process is very fast and continuous and can disperse CNTs with random orientation in the interface resulting in enhanced interfacial properties. Scanning electron microscopy was conducted to investigate the CNT dispersion and composites morphology, and the thermal stability of the composites was analyzed via thermogravimetric analysis. In addition, fiber pull-out tests were used to assess interfacial strength between fiber and matrix.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.477-481
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• 2011

Composites of insulating polyethylene and carbon black are widely used in switching elements, conductive paint, and other applications due to the large gap of resistance value. This research addresses the critical exponent of dielectric breakdown strength of polymer matrix composites (PMC) made with carbon black and polyethylene below the percolation threshold (Pt) for the first time. Here, Pt means the volume fraction of carbon black of which the resistance of the PMC is transferred from its sharp decrease to gradual decrease in accordance with the increase of carbon-black-filled content. First, the Pt is determined based on the critical exponents of resistivity and relative permittivity. Although huge cohesive bodies of carbon black are formed in case of being less than the Pt, a percolation path connecting the conducting phases is not formed. The dielectric breakdown strength (Dbs) of the PMC below Pt is measured by using an impulse voltage in the range from 10 kV to 40 kV to avoid the effect of joule heating. Although the observed Dbs data seems to be well fitted to a straight line with a slope of 0.9 on a double logarithm of (Pt-$V_{CB}$) and Dbs, the least squares method gives a slope of 0.97 for the PMC. It has been found that finite carbon-black clusters play an important role in dielectric breakdown.