Surface treatment of composites with bismaleimide resin-based wet peel ply for enhanced adhesive bonding performance

Abstract

Surface treatment is typically required to improve the bonding performance of carbon-fiber-reinforced composites. Herein, a wet peel ply was prepared using bismaleimide (BMI) resins as a matrix resin. The temperature–heating rate extrapolation method and rheological method were employed to study the reaction characteristics and viscosity-temperature characteristics of the matrix in the BMI wet peel ply. The curing temperatures of the BMI wet peel ply and the BMI prepreg were the same (200◦ C), making this wet peel ply suitable for co-curing with the BMI prepreg. After treatment with the wet peel ply, the bonding strength of the BMI composite joint showed a mean shear strength of 35.5 MPa, which was 1.72% higher than that of the sanded composite and 17.5% higher than that of the composite treated with the dry peel ply. In addition, the BMI composite treated with the BMI wet peel ply exhibited good bonding stability with a coefficient of variation of 3.9. After damp-heat aging for 1440 h, the retention rate of shear strength at room-temperature was 82.3%. The relatively loosely woven carrier in the BMI wet peel ply increased the surface roughness of the composite, thus improving the bonding strength.