Vibrational Spectroscopy of Polymer Composites

Abstract

The chapter reviews and illustrates with examples the many diverse applications of vibrational spectroscopy to the study of polymer composites, which are broadly defined as materials consisting of a polymeric (thermoplastic or thermoset) matrix reinforced with fibers (carbon, glass, polymer) or inorganic particles. After some discussion of the experimental difficulties that must be dealt with in obtaining spectra of these heterogeneous materials, the literature is reviewed under the following subject categories: quality control of polymer composites; studies of various reinforcement materials, their surface treatments, and their interaction with matrices (carbon fibers and particles, carbon nanotubes, glass, silica, silicates and nanosilicates, polymeric fibers, inorganic particulate fillers, fillers derived from plant sources); thermoplastic matrices (crystallinity, orientation); thermoset matrices (the study and monitoring of curing by mid‐infrared, near‐infrared, and Raman spectroscopies); environmental degradation. The chapter also covers the use of Raman spectroscopy to monitor strain in composite materials.