Improved interfacial properties of carbon fiber/unsaturated polyester composites through coating polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane on carbon fiber surface

Carbon fibers were coated with E51 plus Methacryl-POSS together in an attempt to improve the interfacial properties between carbon fibers and unsaturated polyester resins matrix. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were performed to characterize the changes of carbon fiber surface. AFM results show that the coating of E51 plus POSS significantly increased the carbon fiber surface roughness. XPS indicates that silicon containing functional groups obviously increased after modification. Dynamic mechanical analysis was carried out to investigate the surface energy of carbon fiber. Force modulation atomic force microscopy (FMAFM) and Interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) were used to characterize the interfacial properties of the composites. ILSS was increased by 21.9 % after treatment.