Engineering the interfacial adhesion in basalt/epoxy composites by plasma polymerization

Abstract

In an attempt to improve mechanical properties of basalt fibre/epoxy composites, the present work provides a comparison between the effects of a commercial coupling agent, a thermal de-sizing treatment and a plasma polymerization process on the fibre/matrix interfacial strength. The different basalt fibres were characterized in terms of surface morphology, by FE-SEM observations, and chemical composition, performing FT-IR analysis. The interfacial adhesion has been investigated by single fibre fragmentation test (SFFT) on single fibre composite samples. The plasma polymerization process was able to produce a homogeneous tetravinylsilane (pp-TVS) coating on the surface of basalt fibres, which resulted in a significant increase in the adhesion between basalt fibre and epoxy resin. The surface roughness of the untreated and treated basalt fibres has been measured by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and a relationship between the surface roughness and the adhesion quality between the basalt fibres and the epoxy matrix was found. High-resolution microtomography (µ-CT) has been used to support the analysis of the damage modes during fragmentation tests.

Dynamic Mechanical Properties and Thermal Properties of Longitudinal Basalt/Woven Glass Fiber Reinforced Unsaturated Polyester Hybrid Composites

“…Regarding the single basalt fiber reinforced composite (BF), the only apparent difference in the spectrum is the intensified peak at 2920 and 2850 cm −1 (C–H stretching). It was previously reported that the basalt fiber would exhibit a single absorbance peak at 1000 to 1200 cm −1 due to the Si-O-Si bond vibration and a minor peak at 2800 to 2900 cm −1 due to C–H stretching, which explains the intensified peak for the C–H stretching bands [ 35 , 36 ].…”

Fatigue behaviour of flax-basalt/epoxy hybrid composites in comparison with non-hybrid composites

“…It is a plain woven fabric (220 g/m 2 ), made of 100 % BCF (basalt continuous filament) roving. One basalt fibre has a nominal diameter of 13 m [40]. For all the composites, the same epoxy resin was used.…”

Experimental and finite element analysis of the impact response of agglomerated cork and its intraply hybrid flax/basalt sandwich structures

“…This coating process is characterized by the main advantage of providing a very thin film on the fiber reducing the amount of chemical needed with respect to other processes such as grafting and salinization. This technique was deeply studied by Seghini et al who investigated its effectiveness on flax yarns [64] and basalt fibers [65]. It was found out that PECVD improves significantly flax yarns adhesion with both vinyl ester and epoxy matrices and provides an adhesion quality superior to the one of the commercial fibers that are supplied with a commercial sizing.…”