Abstract
Effects of three amorphous thermoplastic polymers used as interlaminar toughening particles in carbon fibre/epoxy laminated composites have been compared. Mode I and mode II delamination fracture toughness were characterized using double cantilever beam and end-notched flexure specimens, respectively, and the delaminated surfaces of specimens were examined using scanning electron microscopy to investigate the interlaminar morphology after fracture. This study showed that the poly(ether imide)-modified and phenoxy-modified systems exhibited similar improvement. The interlaminar morphology in these two systems is compared and discussed. Surprisingly, incorporation of bisphenol-A polycarbonate (PC), with its solvent-induced crystallinity during particulate preparation, induced only very little improvement in the modified composite system. The microstructural morphology at the PC/epoxy interlaminar region showed insoluble chunks of PC domains with crystals, the brittleness and lack of wetting with the epoxy phase adversely affected the macroscopic mechanical fracture behaviour.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 625-631 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue number | 8 PART A |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1996 Jan 1 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Ceramics and Composites
- Mechanics of Materials