Bending Fatigue Resistance of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastic Acrylic Resin

Abstract

It is expected to apply carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastics to industrial fields widely because ofsecondary remoldablity as well as light-weight and high-strength. The authors has developed thecarbon fiber reinforced acrylic composites with good adhesion between fibers and matrix and highstrength by copolymerizing the functional monomers to matrix resin. In this paper the effect of thecopolymerization of hydroxyethylacrylamide（HEAA）on the fatigue life of carbon fiber woven cloth/acrylic resin laminates was investigated. The shear adhesion tests showed that interfacial strengthbetween carbon fibers and matrix copolymer increased with increasing the content of HEAA. Thestronger interfacial strength gave the higher flexural strength of the composites, which is equivalentto that of the conventional carbon fiber/epoxy laminates. As a result of the fatigue tests, the fatiguelife became longer as copolymerization ratio increased. In-situ observation revealed that the copolymerizationof HEAA prevented the crack growth rather than the crack formation.