Tensile Property Improvement of Polyethersulfone Resins with Carbon-Fabric Reinforcement: An Experimental Study

The mechanical properties of polyethersulfone (PES) resins, an advanced material of auto-parts fabricated by vacuum assisted resin infusion (VARI), were improved by reinforcement of carbon fiber textile.The influence of the forming pressure, on the microstructures and mechanical behavior of modified PES resins, was investigated with scanning electron microscopy and tensile test.The results show that depending on the forming pressure, the reinforcement of C-fabric significantly improved the tensile strength/modulus of PES resins.For example, as the pressure increased from 0.1 to 0.25 and to 0.5 MPa, the tensile strength (tensile modulus) increased by 17.36%, 41.39% and 29.54%, (by 1.61%, 19.35% and 10.48%), respectively, simply because of the strongly increased adhesion at the interfaces of PES resins and C-fabrics.The optimized pressure was estimated to be 0.25 MPa.In addition, ductile fracture explained the fracture mechanism of the modified PES resins.