J. Mahy et al., THE RELATION BETWEEN CARBON-FIBER SURFACE-TREATMENT AND THE FIBER SURFACE MICROSTRUCTURE, Surface and interface analysis, 21(1), 1994, pp. 1-13
The effect of an electrochemical surface treatment on the surface micr
ostructure of Tenax(R) high-tensile-strength carbon fibres is investig
ated using a multi-technique approach. The fibres are treated in a lab
oratory set-up, which simulates the production conditions. The surface
functional groups are characterized and quantified, and their depende
nce on the treatment intensity is determined. The surface chemistry is
correlated with the fibre surface topography. It is observed that for
increasing treatment intensity, the surface area does not increase si
gnificantly (except at very high intensities, in which a porous struct
ure is formed). This contrasts with the dispersive part of the surface
energy, which increases with the treatment intensity. Moreover, both
basic and acidic surface functionalities are formed, the relative prop
ortions of which change with the treatment intensity. These phenomena
can be interpreted in terms of the concentration of active sites, whic
h increases with the surface treatment and may be related to 'basal pl
ane edges' of the (disordered) graphitic fibre microstructure.