Advanced technologies / Coating techniques /
Fibre coating
General description
Diffusion bonding of coated multifilament fibre tows is used for the preparation of metal matrix composites (MMCs). Some coated layers prevent reaction between fibres and matrix or increase the surface wettability of fibres by molten metal.
Principle of operation
Metal coatings on continuous multifilament carbon fibre tows can be obtained by various technologies, such as chemical vapour deposition (CVD) process, physical vapour deposition (PVD) process, autocatalytic (electroless) plating process, electrolytic (galvanic), etc. All methods related to metals deposition on strand of fibres have common problem – i.e. how to spread effectively the tow at the beginning of the deposition process.
Typical applications
Preparation of copper matrix/carbon fibre composite.
Nickel coating of carbon fibres to increase electric conductivity in polymer matrix composites.
![Copper coated T300](/data/files/270_copper-coated-t300.jpg)
Copper coated of Torayca T-300 carbon fibres
![Fabric](/data/files/271_fabric.jpg)
Fabric made from copper coated carbon fibre tow
![Ni coated carbon fibres](/data/files/272_ni-coated-carbon-fibres.jpg)
Cross sectional view of Ni coated carbon fibres
![Energy vs. counts](/data/files/273_energy-vs-counts.jpg)
EDS spectrum acquired from Ni coating (point +)
![Ni coated CF](/data/files/274_ni-coated-cf.jpg)
Ni coated carbon fibre tow
![C fibre surface morphology](/data/files/275_c-fibre-surface-morphology.jpg)
Ni coating imprinting the C fibre surface morphology
Equipment
- Lab-scale facility with several steps – desizing, electroless metal coating, galvanic metal coating, winding