Investigation of the effect of sizing on the tensile and interface properties of continuous basalt fibre and polypropylene

Jenkins, Peter G. and Yang, Liu and Thomason, James L. (2018) Investigation of the effect of sizing on the tensile and interface properties of continuous basalt fibre and polypropylene. In: ECCM18 - 18th European Conference on Composite Materials, 2018-06-24 - 2018-06-28.

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Abstract

The mechanical performance of continuous basalt fibres (BFs) and E-glass fibres (GFs) was investigated using single fibre tensile and microbond interface testing. Fibre surface topography was also studied, using atomic force microscopy. Continuous fibres of identical compositions with various surface sizings were used; interfacial shear strength was investigated using polypropylene (PP) matrix. Data were analysed alongside E-glass fibres with similar surface coatings. The tensile performance of basalt fibres varied significantly depending on the surface sizing applied at point of manufacture but little to no difference was found compared with the similarly sized E-glass fibres. The apparent interfacial shear strength (IFSS) between BFs and PP was significantly improved when sizing was applied. Both unsized BF and GF demonstrated very poor IFSS with PP but the application of silane to GFs produced a significantly greater improvement in the apparent adhesion. Characteristic differences in the surfaces of both unsized and silane-coated BFs and GFs were found by AFM analysis.

ORCID iDs

Jenkins, Peter G. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3888-2155, Yang, Liu ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8475-1757 and Thomason, James L. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0868-3793;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)