Electrocoating of carbon fibres at ambient conditions

Electrocoating at constant current is less sensitive to moisture and oxygen than electrocoating at controlled potential, which makes it more interesting for industrial implementation. The galvanostatic electrocoating of carbon fibres with Poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) was therefore studied and compared to the well researched potentiostatic electrocoating procedure. The influence of different experimental parameters on the coating efficiency was investigated in order to identify the mechanisms that are involved in the cathodic electrocoating at constant current. It could be confirmed that the involved mechanisms differ from potentiostatic electrocoating and it was found that galvanostatic electrocoating is more efficient at ambient conditions compared to potentiostatic electrocoating. Polymer layers that cover the entire carbon fibre surface could be achieved in a continuous process by galvanostatic electrocoating under ambient conditions.