A Raman microscopy study of stress transfer in high-performance epoxy composites reinforced with polyethylene fibers

Raman spectroscopy is shown to be a very powerfull method for the study of stress transfer in epoxy composite materials reinforced with high-performance polyethylene (PE) fibers. We found that the stress transfer length as determined by Raman spectroscopy is subtancially shorter for a plasma-treated fiber than for an untreated one. A shorter stress transfer length indicates stronger interactions between fiber and matrix. Furthermore, the stress transfer length was higher for a PE fiber/epoxy matrix cured at a higher temperature