pps proceeding - Abstract Preview
pps proceeding
Symposium: S08 - Polymer composites
Poster Presentation
 
 

A fast method to indicate the wettability of the unidirectional carbon fibers in composites

Vatan Ekrem (1)*

(1) Kordsa - Pendik - Turkey

A fast method to indicate the wettability of the unidirectional carbon fibers in composites Ekrem Vatan (kordsa ve Kocaeli univ.), Guralp Ozkoc (Kocaeli univ.) In this study, wettability of carbon fibers with different resin types was investigated. A method was developed to demonstrate the correlation between the added resin amount and electrical conductivity of the fibers due to improving wettability characteristics of fibres. The conductivity of carbon fibers was measured using different amounts of wetting agents added to the resin. It was observed that conductivity of well wetted fibers increased compared to that of dry fibers and the increase of the wetting agent enriched the conductivity. Contact angles between the fiber and resin were measured. It was seen that the increasing the wetting agent ratio in the resin increased the propagation rate of the drop on the fiber. Moreover, micro Comptuted Tomography (micro-CT) was used to determine the volumetric/areal wet regions of the fibres and it also provided correlation between wetting and conductivity.