Effect of sizing materials of carbon fiber on solid-state cure of poly(p-phenylene sulfide)

Abstract

The effect of sized carbon fibers on the solid-state cure of poly(p-phenylene sulfide) (PPS) was studied using differential scanning calorimetry. PPS resin reinforced with sized carbon fiber exhibited the largest cure peak for all cure temperatures and showed a second peak at low cure temperature which was absent in both PPS reinforced with desized carbon fiber and neat PPS resin. In a separate experiment in which epoxy prepolymer/PPS mixture was cured, the exothermic reaction was related to the presence of the epoxy sizing used on the carbon fiber. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.