Carbon fiber reinforced materials are widely used in a variety of products, from golf clubs to the world's most advanced aircraft, due to their high strength, high stability and light weight.
Mussel Polymers, Inc., a special materials and coatings company, announced that it has successfully coated carbon fiber and aramid fiber with its Poly (camera styrene) (PCS), which is a progress in producing lighter and stronger fiber reinforced composites.
PCS coating not only functionalizes the material surface, but also improves the chemical adhesion of various adhesives and composites.
This application of PCS may greatly increase the strength and impact energy of fiber reinforced materials, and improve the use of coatings and adhesives for carbon fiber components and materials.
Although carbon fibers and aramid fibers have many positive properties, they are notoriously difficult to bond due to their smoothness and chemical inertia.
Previous work on the coating of carbon and aramid fibers with polydopamine (PDA), a PCS like research agent containing catechol, showed that the shear strength of a single coated fiber drawn from its matrix increased by more than 200% compared with the original fiber.
In addition, the flexural strength and impact energy of the reinforced composites made of catechol coated fibers increased by more than 200%.
PCS is the first commercial catechol compound used to coat carbon fibers, and it has many other applications.