Carbon nanotube growth on high modulus carbon fibres: Morphological and interfacial characterization

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were grown directly on the surface of carbon fibres, using the catalytic chemical vapour deposition. FeCo bimetallic catalysts were deposited on carbon fibres using a simple wet impregnation method. CNTs were synthesized over the prepared catalysts by the catalytic decomposition of acetylene at 750 o C. The uniform CNT formation on the fibre surface was verified using scanning electron microscopy. Raman spectroscopy was employed to evaluate non-destructively the CNT growth and the CNT quality. Thermo gravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis were employed as destructive methods to confirm the spectroscopic data. Single CNT-coated fibre fragmentation tests were performed to examine the interfacial shear strength (ISS) of the modified fibres. Acoustic emission was employed to monitor the fragmentation process in real time. Thus, the coated fibre structural integrity was assessed together with its stress transfer properties. Polarized optical microscopy was employed to cross validate the acoustic emission data. It was found that the ISS of the nanotube-reinforced interphase was improved without affecting the fibre mechanical properties.

Multi-Functional Carbon Fibre Composites using Carbon Nanotubes as an Alternative to Polymer Sizing

“…The dominant peak (1595 cm −1 ) is assigned to the G band and the small feature at 1619 cm −1 is assigned to the D’ peak, which resides at 1620 cm −1 . This disorder peak was not observed for the 514 nm laser excitation energy, although it should be stated that the peak is sensitive to the area of the fibre and the chirality lattice orientation30. The lack of G − /G + splitting suggests the presence of MWCNTs, as corroborated the STEM measurements.…”

“…This interlayer also reduces the degradation to the underlying carbon fibre by the growth process20, acting as a thermal barrier21 and reducing catalyst-carbon fibre interaction, minmising pitting11. It is observed that the morphology of the CNTs exhibit similarities to those grown on alumina/SiC fibres222324, which further highlights that the improvements in the CNT growth result from the Al interlayer compared to current state of the art252627282930. SEM analysis of the dry fibres (Fig.…”

Nano-enhanced composite materials under thermal shock and environmental degradation: A durability study

“…carbon fibres. However, the level of enhancement is generally dependent on the degree of dispersion, impregnation, and interfacial adhesion of the CNTs in the polymer matrix [2][3][4].…”

Continuous carbon nanotube synthesis on charged carbon fibers

“…There are two approaches, using the overall CNT-g-CF diameter, which includes the cross-sectional area containing the CNTs [60] or only the diameter of the fiber substrate. [18,59,[65][66][67][68] There are no specific standards for either single fiber fragmentation tests nor single fiber pull-out tests, yet there is a large body of literature for traditional fiber-matrix systems. [69] Relative differences between a baseline sample and modified samples are typically preferred rather than absolute values due to large testing variability.…”