Mechanical enhancement of carbon fiber-reinforced polymers: From interfacial regulating strategies to advanced processing technologies

Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites with marked comprehensive properties, such as lightweight, high specific strength, and stiffness, have attracted riveting attention in recent years owing to their wider applications in aerospace, military, wind power apparatus, vehicle industries, and other advanced civil products. However, the poor interfacial compatibility between carbon fibers (CFs) and polymer matrix and immature processing technologies leads to many defects and deficiencies, which seriously restrict the development of CFRF composites. Hence, a variety of physical or chemical treatment methods as well as processing technologies have been developed to enhance the final macroscopic mechanical properties of CFRP composites by improving the surface wettability of CFs and reducing the friction coefficient. In this review, the recent advances in various surface modification methods of CFs and interface enhancement mechanisms with an emphasis on the interfacial behavior of CFRP composites are comprehensively summarized. Low-damage processing technologies are also discussed and the future trends of CFRP composites have been prospected. It is hoped that this review will provide new ideas and insight for future research and facilitate the industrialization development level for higher-performance CFRP composites.