MANUFACTURING, MORPHOLOGY AND MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES OF CARBON AND GLASS FIBER-POLYAMIDE 12 COMPOSITE LAMINATES

In this paper the influence of thermal pre-history of continuous carbon and glass fiber reinforced polyamide 12 composites on the morphology of the polymer matrix is studied. Of further interest is the effect of the later on the mechanical properties of the laminates. WAXS, DSC, hot-stage light microscopy and density measurements are used to determine the structure and crystallization rate of the samples. It is established that carbon fiber-containing laminates show a faster crystallization rate, a relatively high crystallinity and high values of the flexural strength and modulus. However, these samples show lower energies of delamination as revealed by mode I and mode II tests when compared to the corresponding glass fiber-reinforced composites.