Various ways to strengthen the fiber‐matrix interface for enhanced composite performance

Surface treatment (ST) of carbon fibers (CF) leads to an enhancement in fiber‐matrix adhesion. However, it deteriorates the strength of a fiber which makes its reinforcing action less effective in a composite. These effects in opposite directions control the net strength of a composite, and hence, the treatment has to be judiciously applied, which would enhance the first factor and minimize the second one. Authors have recently reported on four effective techniques (using various doses) such as treatments with nanoparticles of Ytterbium fluoride (YbF₃)_, cold remote nitrogen–oxygen plasma (CRNOP), γ‐ray irradiation and nitric acid oxidation. Amongst these methods, nitric acid oxidation is studied in depth in the literature, and γ‐ray irradiation is sparingly studied. However, nano‐YbF₃ and CRNOP were first time reported in the literature by the authors. However, comparative aspects of all these methods were not addressed. In this paper, these aspects in details are discussed to lay down the right criteria for selection of a ST technique of CF to design the desired performance of a composite. The composites with polyetherimide and treated CF (including untreated) were developed and evaluated for various properties including tribological one. Treated CF based composites exhibited excellent mechanical and tribological properties (under harsh operative conditions with wear rates ≈ 1 × 10^?15 m³/Nm and μ ≈ 0.09). It was concluded that for strength and tribo‐performance, different treatments and doses are to be employed. Overall nanosized‐YbF₃ treatment of CF proved to be the most promising ST method. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.