Improving comprehensive mechanical properties of glass fiber reinforced composites by coating the ternary multiscale modifier

Previous researches have proven that the scale, aspect ratio and dimensionality of modifier coated on the fiber surface have a prominent effect on the mechanical properties of fiber reinforced composites. In this work, the ternary multiscale hybrid coating comprised of diverse scales, aspect ratio and dimensionality modifiers, including nano-Al₂O₃, micro-Al₂O₃ and short carbon fiber (SCF) was evaluated for its potential to improve the mechanical properties of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP). For comparison, the coatings containing single or biphasic modifiers were also coated on the glass fiber surface of GFRP, respectively. As a result, the ternary hybrid coating displayed a more significant enhancement on the comprehensive properties (considering all of the tensile, flexural, impact, interlaminar shear strength and fracture toughness) of GFRP compared to the single or biphase coating. And the Mode II interlaminar fracture toughness of GFRP coated the ternary hybrid modifiers increased 38.18% compared to the uncoated GFRP, which can be attributed to the matrix shear yielding induced by the ternary hybrid coating. In addition, it is found that the biphasic hybrid coatings containing short carbon fiber present a positive synergetic effect on the impact and interlaminar properties of GFRP. (paper)