Micro-buckling resistant unidirectional glass fiber composites with excellent transverse and longitudinal flexural properties from cross-linking by nano-/micro-aramid fibers
Fankai Lin, Mingxin Ye, Xin Min, Zhaohui Huang, Fei Cheng, Xiaozhi Hu
Abstract
This study aims at obtaining an effective structural design strategy for stronger and more reliable Unidirectional glass fiber (UD-GF) composites by in-situ formed cross-linking from randomly distributed nano-/micro- Aramid pulp (AP) fibers. The flexural strength and stiffness have shown substantial improvements in both the transverse and longitudinal directions due to the AP cross-linking and the "brick-slurry" structure. With AP of 8 g/m2, up to 60-70% improvement in flexural strengths (both transverse and longitudinal directions) and up to 20-37% improvement in “effective modulus” have been observed. The noticeable longitudinal improvements have been attributed to the resin reinforcement and interlayer cross-linking provided by ultra-thin AP interlayers, and the resultant improvement in micro-buckling resistance under compression. Since sparsely distributed nano-/micro-AP can be readily incorporated in pultrusion and pre-preg manufacturing processes, this study is not only important for micro-mechanism study, but also provides a plausible improvement in manufacturing.