Enhancement of interfacial adhesion in UHMWPE fiber/HDPE composites by electrophoretic deposition of graphene oxide on UHMWPE fibers

In contrast to the conventional methods of improving interface and performances of UHMWPE fiber composites through fibre surface modification, this paper has reported a novel approach to deposit graphene oxide (GO) to increase the fiber/matrix interfacial shear strength (IFSS) of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene fibers (UHMWPE fiber) reinforced high density polyethylene (HDPE) composites. To validate our argument, GO has been synthesized and deposited over UHMWPE fiber through electrophoretic deposition. Tuned voltage lead to different thickness of deposited GO steadily increasing with the electric field up to 10 V/cm. Coated fibers have been aligned in a mold and an HDPE matrix has been used to create a single-fiber microcomposite. This latter has resulted to be muchhigher than the ILSS thus proving the efficiency of the new GO coating method here proposed for producing advanced graphene based composites. The failure of the composite at the GO/matrix rather than at the GO/UHMWPE fiber interface has been also confirmed by scanning electron microscopy observation of the fracture surfaces of microcomposites.