TY - JOUR
T1 - Effect of aramid pulp on low temperature flexural properties of carbon fibre reinforced plastics
AU - Hu, Yunsen
AU - Cheng, Fei
AU - Ji, Yi
AU - Yuan, Bingyan
AU - Hu, Xiaozhi
PY - 2020/5/26
Y1 - 2020/5/26
N2 - Flexural properties of carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRPs) with multi-layer interfacial reinforcement of hierarchically structured aramid pulp (AP) fibres were measured at −40 and −100 °C under three-point bending (3 PB) together with unreinforced CFRPs. After curing, the ‘interleaf’ thicknesses were 3.3, 5.6 and 12.2 μm for three different AP areal densities of 0.8, 1.6 and 3.2 g/m2, respectively. 3 PB tests of control and AP reinforced CFRPs were also performed at 20 °C to compare the AP strengthening effects and their variations from ambient temperature to −100 °C. The flexural strength increased up to 30.6% at −100 °C for specimens with 1.6 g/m2 AP in comparison to 24.5% enhancement at room temperature. This finding proves that a proper composite design, i.e. adding tough and flexible short fibres into the brittle-fibre and brittle-matrix system, can indeed enhance the structural performance of CFRPs. The small-scale in-house ‘pre-preg’ fabrication adopted in this study shows that the ultra-thin layers of AP fibres can be potentially incorporated into a large-scale pre-preg production so that the extra step of inserting the interleaving layers can be removed from the composite forming process. In other words, end users can use the AP toughened pre-pregs just like any carbon fibre pre-pregs currently in use without the trouble of interleaving.
AB - Flexural properties of carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRPs) with multi-layer interfacial reinforcement of hierarchically structured aramid pulp (AP) fibres were measured at −40 and −100 °C under three-point bending (3 PB) together with unreinforced CFRPs. After curing, the ‘interleaf’ thicknesses were 3.3, 5.6 and 12.2 μm for three different AP areal densities of 0.8, 1.6 and 3.2 g/m2, respectively. 3 PB tests of control and AP reinforced CFRPs were also performed at 20 °C to compare the AP strengthening effects and their variations from ambient temperature to −100 °C. The flexural strength increased up to 30.6% at −100 °C for specimens with 1.6 g/m2 AP in comparison to 24.5% enhancement at room temperature. This finding proves that a proper composite design, i.e. adding tough and flexible short fibres into the brittle-fibre and brittle-matrix system, can indeed enhance the structural performance of CFRPs. The small-scale in-house ‘pre-preg’ fabrication adopted in this study shows that the ultra-thin layers of AP fibres can be potentially incorporated into a large-scale pre-preg production so that the extra step of inserting the interleaving layers can be removed from the composite forming process. In other words, end users can use the AP toughened pre-pregs just like any carbon fibre pre-pregs currently in use without the trouble of interleaving.
KW - Aramid pulp
KW - CFRP
KW - Flexural strength
KW - Low temperature property
KW - Pre-preg
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85079884389&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.compscitech.2020.108095
DO - 10.1016/j.compscitech.2020.108095
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85079884389
VL - 192
JO - Composites Science & Technology
JF - Composites Science & Technology
SN - 0266-3538
M1 - 108095
ER -