A new approach to fabricate carbon fiber reinforced polymer with roller pre-stretching method and characterization of their mechanical properties

In this study, an innovator, simple, and economical method named roller pre-stretching is introduced to fabricate polymer-based composite materials. Stretching technique was applied during vacuum infusion process to enhance the linearity of fibers in the unidirectional composite materials. An increasing linearity proportional together with increasing pre-stretching was observed on scanning electron microscope (SEM) images. The determined experimental pre-stretch values were 0, 1.8, 2.7, 4.1, 6.2, and 9.1 MPa. The effect of this method was evaluated under the favor of tensile and three-point bending tests. Furthermore, volume fractions of the fibers were investigated. The experimental results indicated that the roller pre-stretching method significantly increased ultimate tensile stress of the composites up to 39% and flexural stress of the composites up to 20%. In addition, stretching fibers over 4.1 MPa did not bring about any improvement on composites in terms of their mechanical properties. POLYM. COMPOS., 40:489-495, 2019. (c) 2017 Society of Plastics Engineers