EFFECT OF PLASMA TREATMENT OF POLYETHYLENE FIBERS ON INTERFACE AND CEMENTITIOUS COMPOSITE PROPERTIES

It is well known that interfaces in composites play an important role in determining composite properties. In this paper, preliminary result s of the improvement in tensile properties of a fiber-reinforced cemen titious composite due to plasma treatment of the discontinuous polyeth ylene fibers are reported, Specific focus is placed on the pseudo stra in-hardening composite properties induced by fiber reinforcements and associated load transfer from crack-bridging fibers to matrix. Single fiber pullout tests support that the composite property improvement is indeed derived from interfacial property enhancement of the plasma tr eatment process.