Effect of Interface Structure on Mechanical Properties of Advanced Composite Materials.

Advanced composite materials have the unique combination of outstanding mechanical properties of matrices and reinforcements. The reinforcement/matrix interface in composite materials forms in manufacturing processes and determines the performances of the composite materials. Some reinforcements may not be compatible with matrices in view of their physical and/or chemical properties, which causes premature failure of the composites. Recently, development of nanofiber modified matrices containing reactive graphitic nanofibers has been proposed to promote the wetting of the matrices to certain types of fiber reinforcements. In this paper, the effect of interface structures on the mechanical properties of fiber reinforced composite materials is discussed. Hybrid composite materials/structures are frequently subjected to thermal and mechanical fatigue loading. Aside from external mechanical loadings, thermal effect is identified as an important factor that determines the stress distribution in composite materials. During the curing process, adhesively bonded composite/metal laminate structures are held at elevated temperatures over 120 ◦C, very high residual stresses could build up because of the difference in coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) for different materials. This thermal mismatch results in delamination or debonding of hybrid composite materials, which facilitates fatigue crack growth in the polymer/metal interface. Thermal cyclic stresses can also be generated from the fluctuation of ambient temperatures. Therefore, the stress state in a hybrid composite material is not only dependent on service conditions, but also affected by the materials processing parameters. The research has suggested that a porous oxide structure is likely to be very suitable for adhesive bonding because of the increase in interface area of nanoporous structure, which results in the high shear loading capability. However, the interface nanostructure remains to be revealed by further systematic study.

To read more go to ACS and search: Gan, Yong. Effect of Interface Strcuture on Mechanical properties of Advanced Composite Materials.  International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2009, 10, 5115-5134.