Preparation of epoxy resin carbon fiber multilayer material for the underwater artifact extraction

Underwater artifacts are often fragile and prone to damage and loss of archeological information during extraction. This study proposes an integrated extraction method using an epoxy resin carbon fiber multilayer composite combined with support plate insertion. The multilayer material consists of epoxy resin adhesive, carbon fiber fabric, and plastic film. The epoxy resin adhesive is formulated from bisphenol-A epoxy resin, JH-5553 hardener, propylene carbonate diluent, and DMP30 accelerator. By adjusting the JH-5553 content, the operating time, curing time, curing degree, glass transition temperature, and mechanical properties of the epoxy resin can be regulated. The Tg of the cured resin ranged from −3.80 °C to 28.52 °C, enabling adaptation to different seawater temperatures while ensuring conformal wrapping and artifact safety. The optimized formulation, with a resin: diluent: hardener: accelerator ratio of 100:20:70:3, was successfully applied to extract a deteriorated anchor rope from the Shengbeiyu shipwreck at a depth of 30 m.