Propagation of generation 1-3 dendritic poly(amidoamine) on carbon fiber surface and its effect on the mechanical properties of fiber composites

•PAMAM dendrimers formation at the carbon fiber/matrix interface was reported.•PAMAM at fiber/matrix interface supplied sufficient polar group and chemical bonding.•The hierarchical reinforcement enhanced the mechanical strength of fiber composites.•The potentiality of PAMAM is to make other active molecules further modify fiber.

An effective reinforcement for carbon fiber composites was revealed via the propagation of PAMAM dendrimers on the carbon fiber surface by in situ polymerization. The hierarchical reinforcement significantly improved the mechanical properties of the resulting composites. Functional groups and morphology of the resulting materials were examined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM). Experimental results indicated that dendritic polymer was successfully grown on the fiber surface through the chemical reaction, and this significantly enhanced the interfacial adhesion of resulting composites with supplying sufficient chemical bonding and strong mechanical interlocking. In addition, results of the mechanical property tests showed that interfacial shear strength (IFSS) increased by 90.97%.

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