AbstractA detailed examination has been undertaken of the influence of surface treatment on the adhesion of polyethylene fibres to epoxy resin. The pull-out adhesion has been determined for untreated, chromic acid treated, and plasma etched monofilaments with different draw ratios and thermal annealing treatments. In a few cases, additional chemical treatments were applied to plasma treated fibres before the pull-out test. The polyethylene surface energy also has been determined by measurement of contact angle. The results, taken together, suggest that the adhesion depends on three factors: (i) the wettability (or physicochemical interactions), which is affected by the extent and nature of the surface treatment as well as the fibre draw ratio; (ii) the surface roughness, after plasma etching only, where a honeycomb structure of pits permits mechanical keying between the fibre and the resin (this structure has been examined by scanning electron microscopy); and (iii) the number of chemical bonds per unit area between the fibre and the resin. It is concluded that these three factors can be regarded as additive and that optimum results are obtained when their respective pull-out strengths reach their maximum values, ~2, ~3, and ~1·7 MN m−2.MST/640