Carbon-fiber-reinforced polyimide (PI) resin composites have gained significant attention in the field of continuous-fiber-reinforced polymers, in which the interfacial bonding between carbon fiber and matrix resin has been an important research direction. This study designed and prepared a water-soluble thermoplastic polyamide acid sizing agent to improve the wettability of carbon fiber, enhance the van der Waals forces between carbon fiber and resin and strengthen the chemical bonding between the sizing agent and the alkyne-capped polyimide resin by introducing alkyne-containing functional groups into the sizing agent. This study found that the addition of a sizing layer effectively bridged the large modulus difference between the fiber and resin regions, resulting in the formation of an interfacial layer approximately 85 nm thick. This layer facilitated the transfer of stress from the matrix to the reinforced carbon fiber, leading to a significant improvement in the interfacial properties of the composites. Adjusting the concentration of the sizing agent showed that composites treated with 3% had the best interfacial properties. The interfacial shear strength increased from 82.08 MPa to 108.62 MPa (32.33%) compared to unsized carbon fiber. This research is significant for developing sizing agents suitable for carbon-fiber-reinforced polyimide composites.

Carbon fiber (CF)-reinforced polyimide (PI) resin matrix composites have great application potential in areas such as rail transport, medical devices, and aerospace due to their excellent thermal stability, dielectric properties, solvent resistance, and mechanical properties. However, the epoxy sizing agent used for traditional carbon fiber cannot withstand the processing temperature of polyimide resin, of up to 350 °C, resulting in the formation of pores or defects at the interface between the fiber and the resin matrix, leading to the degradation of the overall composite properties. To overcome this problem, in this study, a low-molecular-weight thermosetting polyimide sizing agent was prepared and the processability of the sized carbon fiber was optimized by a thermoplastic polyimide. Compared with the unsized carbon fiber polyimide composites, the interfacial properties of the composites after the polyimide sizing treatment were significantly improved, with the interfacial shear strength (IFSS) increasing from 82.08 MPa to 136.27 MPa, the interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) increasing from 103.7 to 124.9 MPa, and the bending strength increasing from 2262.2 MPa to 2562.1 MPa. The sizing agent acts as a bridge between the carbon fiber and polyimide resin, with anchorage and bonding at the interface between the fiber and resin, which are beneficial for enhancing the interface performance of composites.

Modified phenylethynyl terminated polyimides (PIs) were successfully prepared by using neodymium oxide (Nd₂O₃) via high-speed stirring and ultrasonic dispersion methods. In addition, the structure and properties of the Nd₂O₃-modified imide oligomers as well as the thermo-oxidative stability of the modified polyimides (PI/Nd₂O₃ hybrid) and its modification mechanism were investigated in detail. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) results indicated that the 5% decomposition temperature (Td5%) of the PI/Nd₂O₃ hybrids improved from 557 °C to 575 °C, which was also verified by the TGA-IR tests. Meanwhile, the weight loss rate of the PI/Nd₂O₃ hybrids significantly decreased by 28% to 31% compared to that of pure PI under isothermal aging at 350 °C for 450 h when the added content of Nd₂O₃ was between 0.4 wt% and 1 wt%, showing outstanding thermo-oxidative stability. Moreover, the mechanism of the enhanced thermo-oxidative stability for the modified PIs was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD).

A polyimide (PI) molecular model was successfully constructed to compare the performance of PIs with different structures. In detail, the structure of the cross-linked PI resin, the prepolymer melt viscosity, and the glass-transition temperature (T_g) were investigated using molecular simulations. The results indicate that benzene ring and polyene-type cross-linked structures dominate the properties of the PIs. Moreover, the prepolymer melt viscosity simulations show that the 6FDA-APB and the ODPA-APB systems have a low viscosity. The results for the T_g and the distribution dihedral angle reveal that the key factor affecting bond flexibility may be the formation of a new dihedral angle after cross-linking, which affects the T_g. The above results provide an important reference for the design of PIs and have important value from the perspective of improving the efficiency of new product development.

The toughening modification of epoxy resin has received widespread attention. The addition of the second-phase resin has a good toughening effect on epoxy resin. In order to investigate the effect of the second-phase resin on the interphase of composites, in this work the interfacial properties of carbon fiber (CF)/epoxy resin with the second-phase resin structure were investigated. Methodologies including surface structure observation, chemical characteristics, surface energy of the CF, and micro-phase structure characterization of resin were tested, followed by the micro-interfacial performance of CF/epoxy composites before and after hygrothermal treatment. The results revealed that the sizing process has the positive effect of increasing the interfacial bonding properties of CF/epoxy. From the interfacial shear strength (IFSS) test, the introduction of the second phase in the resin reduced the interfacial bonding performance between the CF and epoxy. After the hygrothermal treatment, water molecules diffused along the interfacial paths between the two resins, which in turn created defects and consequently brought about a reduction in the IFSS.

Carbon fiber-reinforced polyimide composites are critical for aerospace applications in high-temperature environments of 300–500 °C. However, conventional PMR-15- and PEPA-terminated polyimides are limited by their insufficient glass transition temperatures (T_g) and low crosslinking densities. This study proposes a reactive backbone construction strategy by employing 4,4′-(ethyne-1,2-diyl)diphthalic anhydride (EBPA) as a difunctional monomer copolymerized with asymmetric 2,3,3′,4′-biphenyl tetracarboxylic dianhydride (α-BPDA) and 4,4′-oxydianiline to synthesize polyimide resins containing both backbone ethynyl and terminal phenylethynyl groups. The effects of EBPA content on the curing behavior, thermomechanical properties, and elevated temperature mechanical performance were systematically investigated. The incorporation of EBPA significantly elevated T_g from 378 °C to 486 °C. Compared to the EBPA-0 control, the optimized EBPA-2 composite exhibited 7.3% and 3.6% improvements in room temperature flexural strength and modulus, respectively. Notably, at 400 °C, EBPA-2 demonstrated retention rates of 69.9%, 93.7%, and 61.6% for flexural strength, flexural modulus, and interlaminar shear strength, exceeding EBPA-0 by 16.9, 8.9, and 18.6 percentage points. SEM analysis confirmed the effective suppression of interfacial debonding at elevated temperatures. These findings elucidate the structure–property relationships between molecular structure, T_g, and short-term high-temperature mechanical retention, providing a promising resin matrix for advanced aerospace carbon fiber composites.