Magnetic graphene oxide/carbon fiber composites with improved interfacial properties and electromagnetic interference shielding performance

The poor interfacial properties of carbon fiber reinforced composites (CFRPs) limit their important applications in the aerospace industry. To address the shortcoming, magnetic graphene oxide (MGO) was prepared and encapsulated on the surface of carbon fibers to improve the interfacial properties of CFRPs. The existence of Fe3O4 on MGO reduced the agglomeration of graphene oxide, which made rapid and controlled sizing possible while still maintaining a good level of dispersion of MGO in the magnetic field. Results showed that the inter laminar shear strength, the interfacial shear strength, and the transverse fiber bundle tensile strength of the MGO treated CFRPs were 56.04%, 46.73%, and 82.00% higher than the untreated CFRPs, respectively. Meanwhile, MGO treated CFRPs achieved an electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding effectiveness as high as 46.33 dB in X-band. This work provided insights into preparing structural-functional integrated CFRPs, which showed potential applications in the fields of aerospace, aeronautics, automotive among others.