Long discontinuous carbon fibre/polypropylene composites for high volume structural applications

A processing route is presented to manufacture discontinuous carbon fibre reinforced polypropylene (CF.PP) composites, using much longer fibre lengths (25mm) and higher volume fractions (up to 45%) than previously reported in the literature. Carbon fibre tows are coated with different ratios of poly...

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Main Authors: Harper, L.T., Burn, D.T., Johnson, Michael S., Warrior, N.A.
Format: Article
Published: Sage 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44585/
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author Harper, L.T.
Burn, D.T.
Johnson, Michael S.
Warrior, N.A.
author_facet Harper, L.T.
Burn, D.T.
Johnson, Michael S.
Warrior, N.A.
author_sort Harper, L.T.
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description A processing route is presented to manufacture discontinuous carbon fibre reinforced polypropylene (CF.PP) composites, using much longer fibre lengths (25mm) and higher volume fractions (up to 45%) than previously reported in the literature. Carbon fibre tows are coated with different ratios of polypropylene, blended with a maleic anhydride coupling agent, to investigate the influence of the interfacial shear strength at the microscale on the macroscale composite properties. Improvements in the tensile performance at the macroscale (70% increase) are not as high as those reported for the interfacial shear strength at the microscale (300%), following the addition of the coupling agent. Consequently, the tensile strength of the CF.PP material is only 45% of values reported for carbon fibre/epoxy systems, however, the tensile stiffness is comparable. This demonstrates the potential for using CF.PP for structural applications, following further process optimisation to overcome the current high levels of porosity (3.3% at 0.45Vf) to improve the tensile strength.
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spelling nottingham-445852020-05-04T18:57:13Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44585/ Long discontinuous carbon fibre/polypropylene composites for high volume structural applications Harper, L.T. Burn, D.T. Johnson, Michael S. Warrior, N.A. A processing route is presented to manufacture discontinuous carbon fibre reinforced polypropylene (CF.PP) composites, using much longer fibre lengths (25mm) and higher volume fractions (up to 45%) than previously reported in the literature. Carbon fibre tows are coated with different ratios of polypropylene, blended with a maleic anhydride coupling agent, to investigate the influence of the interfacial shear strength at the microscale on the macroscale composite properties. Improvements in the tensile performance at the macroscale (70% increase) are not as high as those reported for the interfacial shear strength at the microscale (300%), following the addition of the coupling agent. Consequently, the tensile strength of the CF.PP material is only 45% of values reported for carbon fibre/epoxy systems, however, the tensile stiffness is comparable. This demonstrates the potential for using CF.PP for structural applications, following further process optimisation to overcome the current high levels of porosity (3.3% at 0.45Vf) to improve the tensile strength. Sage 2017-07-26 Article PeerReviewed Harper, L.T., Burn, D.T., Johnson, Michael S. and Warrior, N.A. (2017) Long discontinuous carbon fibre/polypropylene composites for high volume structural applications. Journal of Composite Materials . ISSN 1530-793X Compression moulding Discontinuous fibres Thermoplastic Carbon fibre http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0021998317722204 doi:10.1177/0021998317722204 doi:10.1177/0021998317722204
spellingShingle Compression moulding
Discontinuous fibres
Thermoplastic
Carbon fibre
Harper, L.T.
Burn, D.T.
Johnson, Michael S.
Warrior, N.A.
Long discontinuous carbon fibre/polypropylene composites for high volume structural applications
title Long discontinuous carbon fibre/polypropylene composites for high volume structural applications
title_full Long discontinuous carbon fibre/polypropylene composites for high volume structural applications
title_fullStr Long discontinuous carbon fibre/polypropylene composites for high volume structural applications
title_full_unstemmed Long discontinuous carbon fibre/polypropylene composites for high volume structural applications
title_short Long discontinuous carbon fibre/polypropylene composites for high volume structural applications
title_sort long discontinuous carbon fibre/polypropylene composites for high volume structural applications
topic Compression moulding
Discontinuous fibres
Thermoplastic
Carbon fibre
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44585/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44585/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44585/