Fiber reinforced polypropylene composites interfacial behavior improvement fabricated by cold plasma jet SiO_x nanoparticles deposition

Abstract

In this study, cold atmospheric pressure plasma jet was adopted to glass fibers surface modification with tetraethyl orthosilicate as a precursor. To enhance the interfacial bonding forces of glass fiber reinforced polypropylene (GFRP) composites, SiOx nanoparticles were polymerized on the fiber surfaces. The effect of two factors (the distance between nozzle and fiber (D) and the treatment time (T)) on the interfacial bonding behavior of GFRP composites was studied. The modified fibers and composites properties, including surface topography, chemical composition, wettability and interfacial mechanical properties, were studied comprehensively. The optimal parameters were obtained at D = 17 mm and T = 12 s. Our results indicated that the interlaminar shear strength of GFRP composites was increased by 30.79% compared to control group. Further studies found that plasma treatment introduced larger surface roughness, surface energy and more oxygen-containing functional groups, which was responsible for the interlaminar shear strength improvement.

Study on interface insulation properties of Al2O3 epoxy composites using plasma jet‐fluorinated etching/SiOx deposition

“…The enhancement effect varies slightly with the SiO x deposition time change. To determine the composition of the Al 2 O 3 /EP surface film after SiO x deposition, the Si2p in the XPS spectra after SiO x deposition was split into peaks, as shown in Figure 5(D) to (F) 29 . The Si‐containing groups were identified as Si(‐O 2 ), Si(‐O 3 ), and Si(‐O 4 ) (102.2 eV, 102.8 eV, and 103.4 eV, respectively) before and after SiO x deposition.…”

“…To determine the composition of the Al 2 O 3 / EP surface film after SiO x deposition, the Si2p in the XPS spectra after SiO x deposition was split into peaks, as shown in Figure 5(D) to (F). 29 The Si-containing groups were identified as Si(-O 2 ), Si(-O 3 ), and Si(-O 4 ) (102.2 eV, 102.8 eV, and 103.4 eV, respectively) before and after SiO x deposition. With Si(-O 2 ) predominating in the untreated epoxy, while the relative contents of Si(-O 3 ) and Si(-O 4 ) were significantly higher after SiO x deposition, and SiO x functional groups were essentially Si(-O 4 ) after 5 min of deposit.…”

Shear Strength Range of GF/Polyester Composites Controlled by Plasma Nanotechnology

“…The mean free path of plasma species increases with decreasing pressure [ 26 ] and only in the case of low-pressure plasma the plasma species can penetrate the bundle or fabrics, but their activity is affected by the shielding effect of surrounding fibers. Plasma species cannot penetrate effectively into compact fabrics [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 10 , 15 ], and therefore, plasma treatment and plasma coating are effective only to a certain depth below the outer surface of the fabrics. The deposition time (68–1020 s) was calculated [ 22 ] based on knowledge of the number of filaments in the bundle (1600), the shielding factor (0.9), and the deposition rate (13–171 nm min −1 ) for a given power and oxygen fraction to cover even the central filament in a bundle with a nanocoating of at least 20 nm thickness.…”

“…Plasma processing can be used for both fibers and nanofibers [ 4 ]. Many studies using nonthermal plasma, characterized by low kinetic energy of neutral and ionic species (≈300 K), are devoted to carbon fibers [ 5 , 6 ], glass [ 7 , 8 ], aramid [ 9 ], polyethylene [ 10 ] or natural fibers [ 11 , 12 , 13 ]. In the case of a thermoplastic matrix, the fibers are plasma treated in argon, oxygen, nitrogen, ammonia or in their mixtures, and in the air in order to ablate or etch the smooth surface of the fibers and thereby increase the roughness of the surface, or to oxidize (air, oxygen plasma) the surface of the fiber to improve its wettability, both of which lead to improved interfacial adhesion [ 14 ].…”