Effect of Plasma Treatment of a Carbon Tape before the Deposition of a Metallic Coating onto It

The adhesion of a metallic coating to a carbon tape after its treatment with cold plasma under various conditions is experimentally studied, and the optimum conditions are selected. Plasma treatment is found to increase the adhesion strength estimated by adhesive tape testing by several times. A metallic coating is deposited onto a carbon tape after plasma treatment by magnetron sputtering. A carbon tape with a metallic coating is used to fabricate carbon-fiber reinforced plastics (CFRPs) with an epoxy binder, and the plastics are molded using vacuum infusion. A metallic coating made of stainless steel on a carbon tape is found to increase the interlayer shear strength of CFRPs by 40%; a titanium coating, by 30%; and a copper coating, by 13%.