Coating of glass fiber to improve adhesion in glass fiber reinforced polyethylene

Abstract

A new process for coating reinforcing fibers in thermoplastic polymer composites to improve polymer/filler adhesion was evaluated. This process, termed admicellar polymerization, produced organized thin polyethylene films on glass fiber surfaces using sodium dodecyl sulfate as the surfactant template. It appeared that polymerization was not restricted to the surface of the glass fiber, as originally envisaged, but a significant amount of polymerization also took place in the aqueous supernatant. Polyethylene film coated on the glass fiber surface was observed by SEM. The treated glass fiber was used to make glass fiber/polyethylene composites. The mechanical properties of composites made from admicellar-treated glass fibers, but were superior to those made from as-received and untreated glass fibers. This study therefore demonstrates that both the admicellar and solution polymerization techniques for coating glass fibers with polymer improve the fiber-matrix adhesion in thermoplastic composites. composites.