Effect of epoxy functionalized elastomer modified carbon fiber on mechanical properties and interfacial adhesion of chloroprene rubber (CR)/natural rubber (NR) composites

• Published in: Journal of applied polymer science Vol. 140; no. 38
• Main Authors: Wang, Haitong, Zhao, Meng, Han, Linfeng, Chen, Haiming, Li, Qiao, Borah, Jyotishmoy, Lin, Guangyi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 10-10-2023; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Adhesion; Aminopropyltriethoxysilane; Carbon fiber reinforced plastics; Carbon fibers; Composite materials; composites; Dynamic mechanical analysis; Elastomers; EVMG; Hydrochloric acid; interfacial adhesion; Interfacial bonding; Materials science; Mechanical properties; Molecular chains; Natural rubber; Photoelectrons; Polymers; Rubber; Surface roughness; Tensile strength; Tensile stress; Terpolymers; Thermal analysis; Thermogravimetric analysis; Vinyl acetate; Wear resistance; X ray photoelectron spectroscopy
• ISSN: 0021-8995; 1097-4628
• DOI: 10.1002/app.54426

The carbon fibers were oxidized with concentrated hydrochloric acid, and subsequently modified in two steps. First, the oxidized carbon fibers were grafted with γ‐aminopropyltriethoxysilane (KH550) with the purpose of building a platform on the fiber surface, then the epoxy functionalized elastomer (ethylene‐vinyl acetate‐glycidyl methacrylate terpolymer, EVMG) was grafted on the carbon fiber surface. Chloroprene rubber/natural rubber/carbon fiber (CR/NR/CF) composites were prepared by mechanical blending process. Carbon fibers were characterized by different techniques such as X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). The results show that EVMG can enhance the interface adhesion between fiber and rubber. It was observed that the surface of the carbon fiber is covered with a layer of the macromolecular film by EVMG, which increases the surface roughness and introduces epoxy groups. On the one hand, carbon fiber and rubber can be entangled through macromolecular chains, and on the other hand, interfacial bonding can be enhanced by chemical interactions. Furthermore, modification by EVMG impacted tensile strength of CF composite increase by 11.05%, the 300% constant tensile stress increased by 21.87%, and the wear resistance increased by 29.8%, respectively.
Fiber rubber composite.