Abstract:
Carbon fiber reinforced epoxy matrix composites are increasingly used in ultra-low temperature environments. However, due to the mismatch of the thermal expansion coefficient between the epoxy resin matrix and the carbon fiber, the carbon fiber composite material will produce significant temperature stress in the ultra-low temperature environment, which will affect its service performance. Mesoporous SiO
2 with a particle size of 100 to 160 nm and an average pore size of 4.24 nm was successfully prepared by sol-gel method, and mesoporous SiO
2/epoxy resin composites were prepared by adding them to epoxy resin by three-roller grinding method. The test results show that the addition of mesoporous SiO
2 effectively reduces the thermal expansion coefficient of epoxy resin and improves its mechanical properties. Specifically, at room temperature and 90 K, the tensile strength of epoxy resin with 10 wt.% mesoporous SiO
2 reached about 98 MPa and 160 MPa, respectively, which was 27.07% and 26.02% higher than that of pure epoxy resin, respectively. In addition, with the increase of mesoporous SiO
2 content, the thermal expansion coefficient of epoxy resin decreases gradually, and when 20wt.% mesoporous SiO
2 is added, the thermal expansion coefficient of mesoporous SiO
2/epoxy resin composites decreases by 26.31% compared with that of pure epoxy resin. The TFBT test results showed that the TFBT strength of epoxy resin with 5 wt.% mesoporous SiO
2 content was increased by 41.07% compared with that of pure epoxy resin, indicating that mesoporous SiO
2 could effectively improve the interfacial bonding properties of resin/carbon fiber.