Thermal expansion behaviour of coupling reagent treated carbon fibre reinforced polyamide composite.

A comparison was made of the effects of coupling reagent surface modification and air oxidation on the improvement of the interfacial adhesion of carbon fibres in reinforced polyamide composites. Results showed that coupling reagent modification greatly strengthens the adhesion between the reinforcement and matrix and is superior to improvements produced by surface oxidation in air. The optimum interfacial adhesion was reached at 0·3 wt-% coupling reagent concentration. The thermal expansion behaviour of the carbon fibre reinforced polyamide composite also showed that coupling reagent modification improved the interfacial adhesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]