Method to quantify the surface roughness of circular reinforcing fibres

摘要

The properties of fibre-reinforced composites depend on the interface between the matrix and the fibre. The surface of the fibres plays a key role in the load transmission. In this article, a method based on scanning electron microscopy images of fibre cross sections is introduced to quantify the surface roughness. By utilising an image editing software to get a digital profile of the fibre contour, the arithmetic roughness R_a of a carbon fibre was calculated. The method was tested on a C-fibre with a diameter of 7 microns and compared with the images of an atomic force microscopy (AFM). The method allows a comparison of different types of fibres as well as an investigation regarding the influence of fibre treatments.