Chitosan as a Coupling Agent for Phosphate Glass Fibre/Polycaprolactone Composites

oleh: Chao Tan, Chris Rudd, Andrew Parsons, Nusrat Sharmin, Junxiao Zhang, Wanru Chen, Ifty Ahmed

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2018-12-01

Deskripsi

This study shows that chitosan (CS) could be highly useful as a coupling agent in phosphate glass fibre/polycaprolactone (PGF/PCL) composites, as it improved the interfacial shear strength by up to 78%. PGFs of the composition 45P<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub>&#8315;5B<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>&#8315;5Na<sub>2</sub>O&#8315;24CaO&#8315;10MgO&#8315;11Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> were dip-coated with CS (with a degree of deacetylation &gt;80%) dissolved in acetic acid solution (2% <i>v</i>/<i>v</i>). Different CS concentrations (3&#8315;9 g L<sup>&#8722;1</sup>) and coating processes were investigated. Tensile and fragmentation tests were conducted to obtain the mechanical properties of the single fibres and interfacial properties of the PGF/PCL composites, respectively. It was observed that post-cleaning, the treated fibres had their tensile strength reduced by around 20%; however, the CS-coated fibres experienced strength increases of up to 1.1&#8315;11.5%. TGA and SEM analyses were used to confirm the presence of CS on the fibre surface. FTIR, Raman, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses further confirmed the presence of CS and indicated the protonation of CS amine groups. Moreover, the nitrogen spectrum of XPS demonstrated a minimum threshold of CS coating required to provide an improved interface.