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Bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (DGEBA) was blended with polyetherimide (PEI) as a thermoplastic toughener for thermal stability and mechanical properties as a function of PEI contents. The thermal stability and mechanical properties were investigated using a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) and a universal test machine, respectively. The TGA results indicate that PEI addition enhanced the thermal stability of the epoxy resins in terms of the integral procedural decomposition temperature (IPDT) and pyrolysis activation energy (Et). The IPDT and Et values of the DGEBA/PEI blends containing 2 wt% of PEI increased by 2% and 22%, respectively, compared to those of neat DGEBA. Moreover, the critical stress intensity factor and critical strain energy release rate for the DGEBA/PEI blends containing 2 wt% of PEI increased by 83% and 194%, respectively, compared to those of neat DGEBA. These results demonstrate that PEI plays a key role in enhancing the flexural strength and fracture toughness of epoxy blends. This can be attributed to the newly formed semi-interpenetrating polymer networks (semi-IPNs) composed of the epoxy network and linear PEI.

Multiscale hierarchy is a promising chemical approach that provides superior performance in syner-gistically integrated microstructured fibers and nanostructured materials in composite applications. The main purpose of this work was to introduce graphene oxide (GO) between an epoxy matrix and basalt fibers to improve mechanical properties by enhancing interfacial adhesion. The composites were reinforced with various concentrations of GO. For all of the fabricated composites, the optimum GO content was found to be 0.5 wt%, which improved the interlaminar shear strength and fracture toughness by 66.2% and 86.1%, respectively, compared with those of neat composites. We observed a direct linear relationship between fracture toughness and certain surface free energy. In addition, the fracture toughness mechanisms were illustrated using a crack theory based on morphology analyses of fracture surfaces. Such an effort could accelerate the conversion of multi-scale composites into high-performance materials and provide rational guidance and fundamental understanding toward realizing the theoretical limits of mechanical properties.