Enhanced Adhesion Property Of Aramid Fibers By Polyphenol-Metal Iron Complexation And Silane Grafting

In this work, a green and efficient method for the surface modification of aramid fibers is proposed, aiming to enhance their adhesion property with rubber matrix. The surface of the aramid fibers was pre-deposited with a polyphenol-metal complex coating via rapid (1 min) complexation between Fe-III ions and tannic acid (TA), followed by silane grafting. The influences of reactant concentration and reaction temperature on the grafting efficiency of bis-(gamma-triethoxysilylpropyl)-tetrasulfide (Si69) were also characterized. The adhesion force of the modified aramid fibers/rubber composites showed a maximum improvement of 73.6% compared to that of untreated aramid fibers/rubber composites. This approach showed great potential in rubber industry due to its low-cost and high-efficiency.