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A point of major concern in carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites is the interface between the carbon fibers (CFs) and the polymer matrix, which acts as the weakest link. Researchers have tried to work around this drawback by modifying the fiber or the matrix via the addition of nanofillers or using chemical treatment methods. In this review, the progress made in the last decade for enhancing the mechanical performance of CFRP composites by applying the aforementioned methods has been covered. Another aspect of CFRP composites that has limited their adaptability is their susceptibility both at sub-zero and at elevated temperatures. In the later part of this review, the co-relation between different service temperatures and the various mechanical properties of CFRP composites and has been elaborated upon. A better understanding of temperature dependent mechanical response would empower us to tailor the properties of CFRP composites depending on the in-service temperature conditions.

Carbon fiber (CF) modification by grafting of various graphene‐based nanofillers (GBN) by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) technique was proven to be a successful technique to enhance the out‐of‐plane performance of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites. Graphene carboxyl (G‐COOH) grafting on carbon fiber by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) is a promising technique to improve the mechanical properties of CFRP composites. To our knowledge, there is a dearth of literature available on the effect of EPD process parameters on the mechanical behavior of modified CFRP composites. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of nanofiller concentration in the suspension, applied current, and the time of deposition during EPD on the mechanical behavior of nanophase CFRP composites, thus making it a novel work. With increasing concentration, interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) improved consistently and has shown a maximum enhancement of 24.7% than that of neat CFRP composite at 1.5 g/L nanofiller concentration, whereas flexural strength remained almost unaffected with varying concentration. On the contrary, variation of deposition current has affected the flexural strength but not ILSS. The maximum flexural strength was obtained at a deposition current of 5.0A with an improvement of 16.3% in comparison with neat CFRP samples. However, both flexural strength and ILSS of hybrid CFRP composites have shown improvement with increasing deposition time. At 60 min of deposition, ILSS and flexural strength have shown maximum improvements of 35.0 and 26.6%, respectively, when compared to control specimen. After evaluating the effect of process parameters future scope of the work involves the optimization of parameters for EPD of G‐COOH. Fractographic analysis of the fractured samples was performed using scanning electron microscope (SEM) to apprehend prominent failure mechanisms. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020, 137, 48925.

The study aims at investigating the mechanical behavior of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites modified with graphene carboxyl at elevated temperature (ET-110 C) and understanding the effect of electrophoretic deposition bath concentration (0.5 g/L, 1.0 g/L, and 1.5 g/L) on their mechanical behavior at ET. The 1.5 g/L composite has revealed a maximum improvement in energy absorbed before failure of 33.25% at RT and 22.54% at ET for flexural testing and $35% at RT for short beam shear testing, over neat CFRP composite. The modified composites have shown an improved flexural strain to failure at both RT and ET, with 1.5 g/L composite exhibiting maximum enhancement of 12.41% at RT and 26.52% at ET over neat composite. However, at ET, modified composites exhibited lower flexural strength and interlaminar shear strength values in comparison to that of neat. Viscoelastic behavior of all composites was studied to understand bath concentration's effect on thermal behavior via dynamic mechanical thermal analysis. Differential scanning calorimetry was employed for governing the glass transition temperature of composites.Fractography of tested samples (both ET and RT) was performed utilizing a scanning electron microscope to determine the prominent failure mode.

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