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Tensile Properties, Fracture Mechanics Properties and Toughening Mechanisms of Epoxy Systems Modified with Soft Block Copolymers, Rigid TiO2 Nanoparticles and Their Hybrids
- Source :
- Journal of Composites Science, Vol 2, Iss 4, p 72 (2018)
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- MDPI AG, 2018.
-
Abstract
- The effect of the hybridization of a triblock copolymer and a rigid TiO2 nanofiller on the tensile, fracture mechanics and thermo-mechanical properties of bisphenol F based epoxy resin were studied. The self-assembling block copolymer, constituted of a center block of poly (butyl acrylate) and two side blocks of poly (methyl) methacrylate-co-polar co-monomer was used as a soft filler, and TiO2 nanoparticles were employed as rigid modifiers. Toughening solely by block copolymers (BCP’s) led to the highest fracture toughness and fracture energy in the study, KIc = 2.18 MPa·m1/2 and GIc = 1.58 kJ/m2. This corresponds to a 4- and 16-fold improvement, respectively, over the neat reference epoxy system. However, a reduction of 15% of the tensile strength was observed. The hybrid nanocomposites, containing the same absolute amounts of modifiers, showed a maximum value of KIc = 1.72 MPa·m1/2 and GIc = 0.90 kJ/m2. Yet, only a minor reduction of 4% of the tensile strength was observed. The fracture toughness and fracture energy were co-related to the plastic zone size for all the modified systems. Finally, the analysis of the fracture surfaces revealed the toughening mechanisms of the nanocomposites.
- Subjects :
- epoxy
block copolymers
fracture toughness
TiO2
hybrids
Technology
Science
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 2504477X
- Volume :
- 2
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- Directory of Open Access Journals
- Journal :
- Journal of Composites Science
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- edsdoj.534c0c4f7944ba992b661459286a3e6
- Document Type :
- article
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3390/jcs2040072