Effects of ultraviolet surface treatment on adhesion strength of carbon/epoxy composite

Abstract

In the last few decades composites materials, especially fiber-reinforced composites, have been applied increasingly to various fields e.g. sports, automobile, aircraft and defense industries which manufacture high value-added products. As the applications of composite structures increased, various adhesion technologies to join composite parts on the structures have been developed in order to meet the required adhesion performance. In this work, the surface modification of carbon/epoxy composites was investigated using UV (ultraviolet ray) surface treatment to increase adhesion strength between the carbon/epoxy composites and adhesives. After UV surface treatment, XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) tests were performed to analyze the surface characteristics of the carbon/epoxy composites. Comparing the adhesion strengths with the surface characteristics, the effects of the surface modification of carbon/epoxy composites by UV surface treatments on the adhesion strengths were investigated qualitatively and quantitatively.