Surface-engineering of carbon-steel interfaces for fibre-reinforced composite pipe couplers: effects of abrasive blasting and atmospheric-pressure plasma treatment

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Abstract
This study examined the effects of abrasive blasting and atmospheric-pressure plasma treatment on carbon-steel interfaces bonded with glass-fibre-reinforced epoxy and Elium resin matrices. Abrasive blasting produced a non-monotonic change in the apparent lap-shear strength: the highest surface roughness values of approximately 2, 4 and 6 μm gave the mean strengths of 17.5, 19.3 and 12.9 MPa, respectively, indicating that excessive roughness mitigated the adhesion benefits derived from mechanical interlocking. Plasma treatment significantly increased steel wettability, reducing the water contact angle from approximately 121.9° to below 10°, while X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman analyses revealed removal of carbonaceous contamination and formation of a cleaner, hematite-like oxide surface enriched with hydroxyl-related species. At the component level, surface treatment produced a matrix-dependent response. Abrasive blasting and plasma treatment increased the maximum bending moment of epoxy-based couplers by approximately 8% and 48%, respectively, whereas Elium-based couplers showed little change because the steel-Elium interface was no longer the limiting failure path. These results demonstrated that surface treatment was most effective when interfacial debonding controlled structural performance, and that matrix selection must be considered together with steel surface conditions when designing in-situ polymerisation of metal-composite pipe couplers.

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