Fracture behaviour of rubber- and silica nanoparticle-toughened glass fibre composites under static and fatigue loading

Shamsiah Awang Ngah, Ambrose C. Taylor

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

26 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

The crosslinked polymers used in fibre composites are very brittle, and require toughening for structural applications. Research over many years has increased the fracture energy, but the fatigue resistance of these toughened polymers is very poor, limiting the optimisation of structures. This work reports the first successful use of hybrid toughening to increase both the quasi-static interlaminar fracture energy, GIC, and the fatigue threshold strain-energy release-rate, Gth. Amine-cured epoxy glass-fibre composites were toughened using carboxyl-terminated butadiene-acrylonitrile (CTBN) which forms micron-sized rubber particles and 20 nm-diameter silica nanoparticles. The toughening mechanisms were identified as cavitation of rubber particles and debonding for the silica nanoparticles, followed by plastic void growth. The CTBN greatly increases GIC, and the nanoparticles increase Gth. Combining both particles as a hybrid has a synergistic effect on the fatigue resistance. This demonstrates the effectiveness of hybrid toughening, enabling the design of optimised composites by combining micro- and nanoparticles.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)239-256
Number of pages18
JournalComposites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing
Volume109
Early online date3 Mar 2018
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2018

Keywords

  • A: Glass fibres
  • A: Nanoparticles
  • B: Fatigue
  • B: Fracture

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ceramics and Composites
  • Mechanics of Materials

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Fracture behaviour of rubber- and silica nanoparticle-toughened glass fibre composites under static and fatigue loading'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this