Chitosan as a coupling agent for phosphate glass fibre/polycaprolactone composites

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

Research output: Journal PublicationArticlepeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)
261 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

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 45P2O5–5B2O3–5Na2O–24CaO–10MgO–11Fe2O3 were dip-coated with CS (with a degree of deacetylation >80%) dissolved in acetic acid solution (2% v/v). Different CS concentrations (3–9 g L−1) 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 1.1–11.5%. 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.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)97/1-97/25
JournalFibers
Volume6
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10 Dec 2018

Keywords

  • chitosan
  • coupling agent
  • phosphate glass fibre
  • polycaprolactone (PCL) composite

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