Chemical Modification of Carbon Fiber Surfaces with Organic Polymer Coatings

Modifications of the carbon fiber-matrix interface for the purpose of improving the performance of composites require consideration of the microstructure, chemistry and geometry of fiber surfaces, as well as of molecular interactions at the interphase. Several approaches to tailoring of the interphase by coating carbon fibers with organic polymers have been reported. Trie present paper concerns one such approach, namely, the coating of carbon fibers by interfacial polycondensation. The conditions required for the formation of uniform adherent films on the fiber surfaces have been investigated for selected substrates and monomer pairs, and the feasibility of the approach has been demonstrated. Further research is In progress to establish correlations between the chemical structure and properties of the organic polymer coating and its effectiveness In improving the properties of composites in which the modified fibers are used.