Silanization integrating TiO2 nanorods-carbon fiber for improving mechanical and wear-resisting behaviors of phenolic composite

A covalently bonded 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APS)-TiO2 nanorods-woven carbon fiber (WCF) was designed though the in-situ hydrothermal growth followed by the chemical grafting. The silanization for TiO2 nanorods-WCF improved both the mechanical interlocking and chemical interaction among TiO2 nanorods, carbon fiber and phenolic, as well as the interfacial bonding between TiO2 nanorod and carbon fiber, thus formed an effective transition interface. The designed WCF offered a 157.1% increase of tensile strength compared to the desized-WCF. Moreover, the optimized interfacial binding and Si-based transfer film on worn surface leaded to the increased frictional coefficient and a 63.0% decrease of wear rate for composite under sliding frication. The APS-TiO2 nanorods-woven carbon fiber was proven to be an advanced reinforcement for wear-resistance phenolic composite.

Nanometric SiC influence on tribological properties of phenolic composite materials

This paper presents an experimental study of the influence of nano metric silicon carbide in the composition of phenolic composites on the coefficient of friction. The paper is divided into three distinct parts investigating from a tribological point of view three different types of composite materials based on phenolic resin with three concentrations of nSiC (0.5; 1 and 2% by mass). In the first part, a comparative study of the behavior of phenolic resin was performed, representing the basis for the development of composite materials. In the second part, a study was performed on laminated materials reinforced with two-dimensional fabrics (glass fiber and carbon fiber, respectively). The last part studied two types of ablative phenolic materials based on micronic cork, on one hand, and on carbon felt on the other hand.

The Use of Single-Sided NMR to Study Moisture Behaviour in an Activated Carbon Fibre/Phenolic Composite

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) has been shown to be a useful technique to study the form and content of water in polymer composites. Composites using activated carbon fibres with phenolic resin have complex water absorption behaviour which would benefit from such investigation; however, the presence of the conductive fibres can make NMR problematic. In this study, single-sided NMR has been successfully used on such material by developing a method for sample-to-sample compensation for the effect of conductivity. Transverse relaxation curves showed water to be primarily in two states in the resin, corresponding to "bound" and "mobile" molecules. In addition, two much less bound states were identified in the composite, associated firstly with water adsorbed on to the fibre surface and secondly with clusters of water molecules moving more freely within the fibre pores.