Mechanical properties of plasma-treated carbon fiber reinforced PTFE composites with CNT.

This paper is concerned with the effects of the plasma surface treatment and the addition of CNT on the mechanical properties of carbon fiber/polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) composite. The tensile and flexural strength of composites containing CNT and plasma-treated carbon fibers improved. The flexural strength first decreases with respect to the CF content. The flexural strength increases to 179 MPa for the plasma-treated composite as compared with 167 MPa for the neat carbon fiber composites. The overall improvement is thus nearly 8%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]