Improvement of thermal and mechanical properties of carbon fiber reinforced plastic composite with exfoliated hexagonal boron nitride particles

Abstract

Improvement of thermal and mechanical properties of carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP) was studied by incorporating exfoliated hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) with high aspect ratio into matrix resin composed of polypropylene (PP). The thermal diffusion and propagation of model CFRTP composite composed of a single carbon fiber and matrix was investigated by microwave (MW) irradiation. As result, the thermal propagation of composite with 2.5 vol.% exfoliated h-BN was even similar to that of composite with 5.0 vol.% raw h-BN. Furthermore, the thermal degradation of the composite was suppressed by the exfoliated h-BN at low filler content. Moreover, three-point bending test showed that the specific strength and the specific rigidity of CFRTP composite composed of 2.5 vol.% exfoliated h-BN/PP were increased by 22 and 37%, respectively, as compared to matrix with only PP. The mechanical property of CFRTP with 2.5 vol.% exfoliated h-BN/PP was higher than that of CFRP with 5.0 vol.% raw h-BN/PP. Furthermore, the number of failure cycles of CFRTP composite composed of exfoliated hBN was increased by one orders as compared to raw h-BN one. Thus, the addition of exfoliated h-BN into matrix resin had a significant influence on the thermal and mechanical properties of CFRTP.