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Updated: Jul 21, 2025

Isolating Free Carbenes, their Mixed Dimers and Organic Radicals
Published on: April 19, 2019
Carbon fibre surface modification facilitated by silver-catalysed radical decarboxylation
David J Hayne1, Bhagya Dharmasiri1, Filip Stojcevski2
1Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Geelong, Victoria 3216, Australia. luke.henderson@deakin.edu.au.
Abstract:
A silver catalysed radical decarboxylation process was used to graft a copolymer (4 : 1; methylacrylate/acrylic acid) onto short carbon fibres. Surface grafting was confirmed by XPS, SEM and TGA, suggesting that the polymer accounted for 10% of the modified materials mass. Incorporation of these surface enhanced carbon fibres into an epoxy resin gave composites demonstrating an increase in ductility and a clear change in failure mode from adhesive, at the fibre-matrix interface, to cohesive, within the matrix polymer itself.
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