2134/12357452.v1
Carmen Torres
Carmen
Torres
M. Haghighi Abyaneh
M. Haghighi
Abyaneh
Joseph Holt
Joseph
Holt
Bradley Mee
Bradley
Mee
Jing Wang
Jing
Wang
Paul Conway
Paul
Conway
Enhanced interfacial adhesion and mechanical performance of lightweight polyurethane foam reinforced with a low content of aligned magnetised short carbon fibres
Loughborough University
2020
Polymers
Materials Engineering
discontinuous fibre
short fibre
polyurethane
carbon fibre
foam
magnetisation
interfacial
lightweight
2020-05-27 13:22:50
Journal contribution
https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/Enhanced_interfacial_adhesion_and_mechanical_performance_of_lightweight_polyurethane_foam_reinforced_with_a_low_content_of_aligned_magnetised_short_carbon_fibres/12357452
An increase in interfacial properties between the matrix, a polyurethane cellular
foam, and the reinforcement, a short carbon fibre, led to improved mechanical
properties of a light-weight composite. The carbon fibre surface modification
was designed with two aims: to possess magnetic properties so the discontinuous
fibres could be aligned on-demand during the manufacturing process via a weak
magnetic field and, to promote interfacial adhesion between the matrix and the
reinforcement. After surface treatment, functionalising and coating with
magnetite nanoparticles created and deposited in situ via electrodeposition prior
to their deployment, the fibres were susceptible to magnetic manipulation and
orientation within the reacting foam. The fibre coating contributed to interfacial
compatibilization between the matrix and the reinforcement. Comparing the
results between unreinforced, reinforced with untreated fibre, and reinforced
with magnetised fibre, the results show that: foam reinforced with a low %vol
content, i.e. from 0.1%vol to 0.4%vol, of any of the fibres improved specific
strength, stiffness and toughness in tension relative to the unreinforced cellular
polymeric matrix without densification, modification of cell size or
compromising their lightweight properties. The magnetised fibre-containing
composites showed significantly improved mechanical properties, in particular
in tension, when compared to the untreated fibres due to their enhanced
interfacial adhesion and their alignment in the matrix. Results in compression
only yielded improvement in compressive strength, with other properties being
similar to the unreinforced matrices. No significant differences were observed
between the magnetised (aligned fibres) and the untreated (randomly distributed)
configurations in compression.