Abstract:
Polydicyclopentadiene (PDCPD) as a thermosetting resin with excellent comprehensive performance, can be composited with continuous carbon fibers (CF), for the application of various engineering field to meet the requirements of lightweight, energy conservation and environmental protection. In this paper, firstly, the viscosity of the DCPD prepolymer could meet the demands of vacuum assisted resin infusion (VARI) molding process by adjusting the content of Grubbs 2 catalyst. Subsequently, the carbon fiber was subjected desizing treatment, and then compounded with the prepolymer added with sufficient catalyst. The tensile, flexural, V-notch shear, interlaminar fracture toughness, impact, and thermodynamic properties of PDCPD/CF composites were compared with thegeneral epoxy resin (EP)/CF composites, The failure mechanisms of PDCPD/CF composites under different loading modes were detected, and the key points and directions for their application in the engineering field were explored. The results show that the interface between the carbon fibers after desizing and PDCPD is well bonded, and the strength of PDCPD/CF composite is comparable to that of EP/CF composite. Although PDCPD/CF composite had weaker deformation resistance, they still had a certain degree of bearing capacity after being subjected to the ultimate loads. From the perspective of interlaminar fracture toughness, PDCPD/CF composites have excellent delamination resistance, with mode I and mode II fracture toughness equivalent to 406% and 250% of CF/EP composites, respectively. A barely visible impact damage (BVID) has formed on the top surface of a 3.2 mm-thickness PDCPD laminate after being subjected to a 40 J impact, while there is no significant fiber breakage on the bottom surface. The residual compression strength of PDCPD/CF composites is 34.7% higher than the EP/CF composite.