TITLE:
Physico-Chemical Characterization of Novel Epoxy Matrix System Reinforced with Recycled Short Milled Carbon Fibre
AUTHORS:
Sagar T. Cholake, Grainne Moran, Yu Bai, R. K. Singh Raman, X. L. Zhao, Sami Rizkalla, Sri Bandyopadhyay
KEYWORDS:
Recycled Carbon Fibre, Discontinuous Reinforcement, Resins, Cure Behaviour
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Minerals and Materials Characterization and Engineering,
Vol.3 No.5,
August
24,
2015
ABSTRACT: As received recycled short milled carbon fiber (SMCF) reinforced diglycidal ether of bisphenol-A
(DGEBA) epoxy matrix materials have been developed by ultra-sonication mixing of SMCF in epoxy
then curing at room temperature for nine days. The SMCF with mean diameter 7.5 μm, and length
100 - 300 μm, was used at different loadings i.e. 1, 2, 3, 5 and 10 wt%. Elemental analysis, surface
chemistry and crystallography of SMCF were examined using X-ray fluorescence, X-ray photoelectron
spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Fourier Transform IR spectroscopy confirmed that both
in unmodified and SMCF-modified epoxies, 99% curing was achieved. Surface microhardness
study showed a slight increase with 5% and 10% SMCF addition. Raman study confirms no structural
change in SMCF after incorporation in epoxy. Also, a numerical modelling is implemented to
correlate the density of the modified epoxy and SMCF volume fraction/distribution uniformity.