An Assessment of Interfacial Chemistry and Character of Fiber/Polymer Microcomposites

Abstract

Abstract

The interfacial chemistry and character of hygrothermally treated E-glass/epoxy microcomposite have been investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscope (FTIR-imaging), temperature-modulated differential scanning calorimeter (TMDSC) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) techniques. The physico-chemical interactions occurring between absorbed water molecules and the network of a tetrafunctional epoxy resin were studied by FTIR-imaging. This is used to study the mechanistic details of epoxy curing on the molecular level. Absorbance peaks of OH stretching bands were focused to study the effects of hygrothermal exposure at the interphase of microcomposite by FTIR-imaging. TMDSC is for studying the glass transformation behavior of glasses and for measuring the glass transition temperature (T_g). Failure modes as swelling stress, brittle fracture of fiber, fiber/matrix interfacial debonding, were obtained in SEM fractographic analysis. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) study helped in revealing the phase contrast which might have been developed by the generation of differential straining at different zones of the resin matrix.

Keywords: Glass/epoxy microcomposites, hygrothermal treatment, FTIR-imaging, TMDSC, SEM