Nj. Lee et al., CHARACTERIZATION OF FUNCTIONALLY GRADIENT EPOXY CARBON FIBER-COMPOSITE PREPARED UNDER CENTRIFUGAL FORCE/, Journal of Materials Science, 32(8), 1997, pp. 2013-2020
Centrifugal force was employed in order to induce a spatial gradient o
f fibre distribution in the epoxy/carbon fibre system. The gradient st
ructure of the epoxy/carbon fibre composite can be controlled by varyi
ng the rotation time and the material parameters, such as fibre length
, fibre content and matrix viscosity. The spatial gradient distributio
n of carbon fibres in an epoxy matrix was achieved by the combined mec
hanism of packing and settling. The mechanical properties of the funct
ionally gradient epoxy/carbon fibre composite were also investigated.
At the same content of carbon fibre, the flexural strength of the func
tionally gradient composite was higher than that of conventional isotr
opic composite.