Carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites from acrylic polymer matrices: Interfacial adhesion and physical properties

Abstract

Acrylic polymers have high potential as matrix polymers for carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic polymers (CFRTP) due to their superior mechanical properties and the fact that they can be fabricated at relatively low temperatures. We focused on improving the interfacial adhesion between carbon fibers (CFs) and acrylic polymers using several functional monomers for co-polymerization with methyl methacrylate (MMA). The copolymerized acrylic matrices showed good adhesion to the CF surfaces. In particular, an acrylic copolymer with acrylamide (AAm) showed high interfacial adhesive strength with CFs compared to pure PMMA, and a hydroxyethyl acrylamide (HEAA) copolymer containing both amide and hydroxyl groups showed high flexural strength of the CFRTP. A 3 mol% HEAA-copolymerized CFRTP achieved a flexural strength almost twice that of pure PMMA matrix CFRTP, and equivalent to that of an epoxy matrix CFRP.

Keywords

• Polymer composites
• carbon fiber
• acrylic polymer
• interface
• adhesion