Physicomechanical Characteristics of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite Using X-Ray Diffraction, Atomic Force and Electron Microscopies

Abstract

The physicomechanical characteristics of PAN-based carbon fibers were investigated by SEM-EDS, XRD, TEM and AFM analysis while the mechanical properties of the composites were studied by tensile, flexural and Charpy impact tests with ASTM standards. Regarding the tensile test of carbon fiber fabric, the average tensile strength of CF-I, CF-II and CF-III fibers were around 147 MPa, 137 MPa and 225 MPa and the tensile modulus of those were 12.8 GPa, 13.2 GPa and 12.8 GPa, respectively. Later, the nanostructure of carbon fiber was recognized not as a pure graphite carbon structure because they mixed with graphite and amorphous structures. The higher tensile strength and modulus of CF-III fiber fabric was lower interlayer spacing (d002) because it consisted of more graphene layers in the graphite structure when compared with CF-I and CF-II fiber fabrics. Concerning AFM analysis’s results, CF-I fiber fabric has higher surface roughness (Ra) of 34.8 nm and more in-depth with wider pit lines along the fiber axis, which caused higher mechanical properties among the three composites. According to this article, the nanostructure of carbon fibers had a lower impact on CFRP composite because the interfacial bonding between fiber and epoxy matrix, which obtained the higher mechanical properties in the composite, was directly enhanced by the higher surface roughness of the fibers.