Enhanced interfacial and mechanical properties of basalt fiber/epoxy composites via synergistic surface modification

In this work, the in-situ growth of silicon nanowires (SiNW) on basalt fiber (BF) surfaces was achieved by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), followed by surface coating of waterborne polyurethane (WPU) on the BF to synergistically enhance the interfacial interaction between BF and epoxy resin (EP). Subsequently, BF/EP composites were prepared by a manual layering method. The results showed that the tensile strength of the modified BF multifilment increased by 48.1 %. The flexural modulus, flexural strength of the modified BF/EP composite material increased by 23.4 %, 29.6 % respectively compared to the unmodified composite. The results indicate that the synergistic modification of the composite by SiNW and WPU promotes stress transfer between the matrix and fibers, thereby improving mechanical properties.