Effects of surface modification by atmospheric oxygen dielectric barrier discharge plasma on PBO fibers and its composites

Abstract In this paper, oxygen dielectric barrier discharge (oxy-DBD) plasma was employed to modify PBO fibers and enhance the interfacial adhesion of PBO fiber/bismaleimide composites. The interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) of the composites was improved greatly to 62.0 MPa with an increment of 41.2% at 30 W/cm3, 24 s. The SEM images of fracture morphology indicated that the failure place shifted from the interface to the matrix, and the water absorption decreased from 1.96 to 1.53%, the two results demonstrated the improved adhesive strength in other ways. In addition, the ILSS retention ratio of PBO/BMI composites after boiling in water were about 90%, confirming good humid resistance of the composites. The results obtained from XPS and AFM revealed that some polar groups were introduced onto PBO fibers and the surface morphology of PBO fibers was roughened. As a result, the wettability, reactivity and roughness of PBO fibers were all improved, they contributed to the improvement of the ILSS of the composites. The comparisons with air-DBD plasma showed that the chemical changes of PBO fibers were not alike because of different plasma gases.