Influence of Acid and Base Surface Treatment of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes on Mechanical Interfacial Properties of Carbon Fibers-Reinforced Composites

In this work, the effect of chemical treatments of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) on the mechanical interfacial properties of carbon fiber fabric-reinforced composites was investigated. The surface properties of the MWNTs were determined by acid and base values, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses. The mechanical interfacial properties of the composites were assessed by interlaminar shear stress (ILSS) and critical stress intensity factor (K-IC). The chemical treatments based on acid and base reactions led to a significant change of surface characteristics of the MWNTs, especially A-MWNTs/carbon fibers/epoxy composites had higher mechanical properties than those of B-MWNTs and non-treated MWNTs/carbon fibers/epoxy composites. These results were probably due to the improvement of interfacial bonding strength, resulting from the acid-base interaction and hydrogen bonding between the epoxy resins and the MWNT fillers.