Evaluation of interfacial properties of the silane blend sized glass fiber–epoxy composite by the microdroplet test

The performance of a composite material system depends critically on the interfacial characteristics of the reinforcement and the matrix material. In this study, the interfacial adhesion was tailored by the creation of textures on the glass fiber surface using inorganic-organic silane blends. A single-fiber microdroplet test was conducted to assess the interfacial properties between the textured glass surface and an epoxy matrix. The load–displacement curves from microdroplet tests were analyzed. The stress-based and energy-based micromechanic models of interfacial debonding and corresponding adhesional parameters (apparent and ultimate interfacial shear strength, friction stress, critical energy release rate, work of adhesion, and adhesional pressure) were applied for theoretical calculations. The results showed a clear trend for the impact of different silane blends on the interfacial properties. The specimens containing 75:25 and 50:50 of inorganic–organic silane blends show the most effective improvement in the interfacial adhesion properties between glass fiber and epoxy resin. Scanning electron microscopy was used to visualize the failure surface of the specimen after the microdroplet test. The scanning electron microscopic images indicated that the failure in the blend sized treated glass fiber–epoxy matrix specimen runs predominantly along the interphase and combines both cohesive failure in resin (the presence of some resin fragments) and adhesive failure (some bare fiber surfaces can be seen).