Abstract
In this work, we consider low-cost carbon fiber produced with a textile-grade precursor. The objective of the study is to investigate textile-grade carbon-fiber-reinforced-polypropylene composites (TCF-PP) from compounded pellets for mechanical and thermal characterization. Four sets of pellets with 1%, 5%, 10%, and 15% reinforcement were manufactured using textile-grade carbon fiber (TCF) and polypropylene (PP) by twin-screw compounding. The addition of TCFs through gravimetric feeder directly in the extruder resulted in lower fiber content; however, side feeder has shown good potential. The pellets were further processed in extrusion compression molding to manufacture plaques. An increase in fiber loading has a negligible effect on fiber attrition as fiber length distribution variation between 1% and 15% reinforced pellets was very small. The addition of TCFs in PP showed a significant improvement in mechanical properties. The tensile strength and modulus of the composite were 26% and 161%, respectively, improved by the addition of 10 wt% TCF. Similar results were observed in the flexure test. However, the impact properties were reduced by 25.54% by the addition of 15% TCF.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 652-659 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Polymers and Polymer Composites |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 2021 |
Funding
The authors would like to thank Carbon Fiber Technology Facility (CFTF), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), for providing textile grade carbon fibers. Support from the Department of Energy (DOE), Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI), The Composites Institute, is gratefully acknowledged. The information, data, and work presented herein was funded in part by the US Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy under Award Number DE-EE0006926. The authors would like to thank Carbon Fiber Technology Facility (CFTF), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), for providing textile grade carbon fibers. Support from the Department of Energy (DOE), Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI), The Composites Institute, is gratefully acknowledged. The information, data, and work presented herein was funded in part by the US Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy under Award Number DE-EE0006926. The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Keywords
- SEM microscopy
- Textile-grade carbon fiber
- fiber length distribution
- mechanical characterization
- thermal analysis