Nanostructured “Brick-and-mortar” interphase inspired by nacre to improve carbon fibre composite performance

Carbon fibre-reinforced composites are well-known for their high mechanical performance and low weight, but suffer from sudden failure caused by the correlation of fibre breaks leading to local stress concentration. Mechanisms for energy dissipation at the fibre/matrix interface while maintaining good load transfer represents a route to improve the tensile properties of the composites. Here, we developed a conformal “brick-and-mortar” nanostructure inspired by the architecture of nacre around the surface of carbon fibres, which provides mechanisms for energy absorption and plasticity at fibre breaks. A Layer-by-Layer assembly method enabled the deposition of the nanostructured coating onto multiple fibres simultaneously, allowing for the manufacture of unidirectional bundle composites. Absolute improvements in tensile strength and strain-to-failure of the composites containing the nanostructured interphase were measured