Adhesion activation of Twaron ^® aramid fibres studied with low‐energy ion scattering and x‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Abstract

Abstract The properties of the interphase between Twaron ® aramid fibres and polymer matrix systems can be optimized by a surface treatment process of the fibres. In this work, x‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy and low‐energy ion scattering have been used to analyse the surface layers, whereas the adhesion was measured by a bundle pull‐out experiment. From the results, we succeeded in establishing a relation between the surface treatment, the resulting chemical/elemental surface composition and the adhesion to an epoxy matrix. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.