Investigation of Fracture Toughness of Epoxy Resins by Addition of CNT and Rubber Microparticles

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Mehrabi, Fatemeh | 2013

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Type of Document: M.Sc. Thesis
Language: Farsi
Document No: 48316 (07)
University: Sharif University of Technology
Department: Materials Science and Engineering
Advisor(s): Bagheri, Reza
Abstract:
Epoxy resins are relatively brittle and have low resistance to crack propagation. It is common to add rubber particles to improve crack resistance in epoxies, although these particles may deteriorate the strength of the matrix. Different nanomaterials are used to overcome the inherent brittleness of epoxies and to keep the mechanical properties. Among them, carbon nanotubes has been attracted many attentions. Fractue behavior and mechanical properties of two kind of novel nanocomposites, i.e, epoxy/carbon nanotube and epoxy/rubber/carbon nanotube are investigated in current study. Electron microscopy investigations were done to assure the CNTs distribution and fracture mechanisms as well. This studies show relatively poor dispersion of CNTs among both nanocomposite matrices. SEM micrographs showed CNT pull-out mechanism in binary and CNT pull-out and rubber cavitation in ternary nancomposites. Mechanical investigations revealed about 34% increase of fracture toughness in binary systems due to addition of 25wt.% CNTs. CNT addition obviously changed the fracture toughness evolutions trend versus rubber amount in matrix
Keywords:
Nanocomposite ; Carbon Nanotubes ; Rubber ; Fracture Toughness ; Epoxy Resin

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