Effect of surface oxyfluorination on the bonding between acrylic coated optical fiber and cementitious and polyester resin matrices

We examine the effect of fiber surface oxyfluorination on the interfacial b onding between acrylic coated optical fiber and a cementitious matrix and p olyester resin respectively. The optical fiber is surface oxyfluorinated th rough a gas reaction process at room temperature in which elemental oxygen and fluorine are introduced into the acrylic molecular chain to replace the hydrogen atoms partially, After surface fluorination, the wettability of t he optical fiber improves. Through an optical fiber embedment pull-out test , it is found that the surface oxyfluorination treatment improves on averag e the adhesional shear bond strength between the optical fiber and the ceme ntitious matrix by 22% and the interfacial bonding between the optical fibe r and the polyester resin matrix by 66%. The debonding of the unmodified op tical fiber and the polyester matrix exhibits catastrophic failure characte ristics, whereas that of the oxyfluorinated optical fiber with the polyeste r matrix is more gradual and there is still a substantial bond at the inter face after the interfacial adhesive bond is broken. The mechanisms for the increase in interfacial bonding between the oxyfluorinated acrylic coated o ptical fiber and the cementitious and polyester resin matrices are proposed .