Effect of electron beam irradiation on impact strength of carbon fiber reinforced polycarbonate

Abstract

Carbon fiber reinforced epoxy plastics (CFRP) is widely utilized for light weighted aerospace structural materials. However, CFRP require a long curing time of epoxy plastics to make composites. To shorten the molding time, the thermoplastics of polycarbonate instead of epoxy resin was applied to make composite of carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic polycarbonate plastics (CFRTP-PC). However, CFRTP-PC has lower impact strength than CFRP due to poor impregnation. In order to strengthen the impact strength of CFRTP-PC, electron beam irradiation (EBI) has been performed. The optimal dose (107.5 - 129 kGy) of EBI at 250 kV improves the impact value.