Toughening Mechanism of Epoxy Resins with Micro/Nano Particles

Abstract

The toughening mechanism of epoxy resin mixed with micro/nano particles is investigated in this study. The effects of particle size on maximum stresses are studied. Analytical cell models of fracture are proposed to probe the toughening mechanism. These models are based on the assumption that increase of fracture surface area is a main factor to improve the toughness of the material. These models give the correlation of parameters (material properties, volume fraction, size, and amount of particles and epoxy resin) and the fracture toughness, and build the upper limit of toughness improvement. Some significant results are obtained for understanding the toughening mechanism of epoxy resin with micro/nano particles.

Keywords

fracture toughness toughening epoxy resin micro/nano particles nanocomposites

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