Ricerc@Sapienza

The increasing use of natural fibre composites in at least semi-structural applications along with a demand for a fast and accurate damage detection for quality purpose and in-service reliability promote a need for non-contact non-destructive testing techniques. To this purpose, ultrasound is probably one of the most widely used testing techniques but the need of a coupling fluid like water limits its use with natural fibre composites.

This work is focused on the assessment of the effect of oxygen and polymer plasma tetravinylsilane (pp-TVS) treatments on the adhesion of flax yarns with epoxy and vinylester thermoset matrices. These low temperature plasma processes have been selected as more environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional chemical treatments. Tensile tests performed on single flax yarns revealed a reduction in their mechanical properties after plasma treatments. In particular, a tensile strength reduction of 36.4% was detected after the oxygen plasma treatment using 100 W of plasma power.