Surface treatment of pan based carbon fibers with sulfonated octaphenyl poss

The electrolytes are heavily used during the electrolytic oxidation process in carbon fibre manufacturing, creates toxic gases and odors around the production site. In an effort to replace these electrolytes, sulfonated octaphenyl POSS (SOP-POSS) based on aqueous solution was used to treat the carbon fiber. IR and 1H NMR analysis confirmed the successful deposition of sulfonation of octaphenyl POSS. Inverse Gas Chromatography (IGC) surface energy changes suggested the removal of defect sites and flaws and better homogeneity in surface chemical activity after treatment. A significant increase in surface oxygen contents for both oxidised and unoxidised fibers was measured in the XPS data for SOP-POSS treated carbon fiber whilst the IGC results showed that similar level of surface polarity can be attained for SOP-POSS treated fibers compared to commercially available sized fibers. The thermodynamic work of adhesion, predicted from IGC surface energy data, showed stronger interaction after sufonation treatment, between the SOP-POSS and carbon fiber