Study on carbon fiber surface treatment based on surface oxidation method

Surface conditions of carbon fibers severely effect on the bonding strength between the fibers and the matrix, even on the mechanical properties of the composites when carbon fibers were used as reinforcement on the preparation of ceramic matrix composites. Surface treatment of carbon fibers was carried out based on the air oxidation method and the liquid oxidation method with concentrated nitric acid (68%) as the oxidizing solution. It could remove impurities from the surface of carbon fibers and increase the degree of the surface concavoconvex, so the active surface area were increased and then improved the bonding strength between fibers and matrix. The surface topographies of carbon fibers after surface oxidation were characterized by SEM. The results illustrate that, impurities on the surface of carbon fibers are decreased and there are many longitudinal grooves evenly distributed on the surface in favor of increasing the bonding strength between the fibers and matrix.