Influence of nanorubber toughening on the tensile deformation and tensile fatigue behaviour of a carbon fibre-reinforced epoxy composite

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of nano carboxylic acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (CNBR-NP) on the tensile fatigue behaviour of carbon fibre reinforced polymer composites (CFRP) with dicyandiamide-cured epoxy matrix. The stress-controlled tension-tension fatigue behaviour at a stress ratio of R=0.1 was investigated for CFRP with neat and nanorubber-modified epoxy matrices with CNBR-NP loadings of 5, 10, 15, 20 phr. The normalised test data revealed that the high cycle fatigue lifetime of the epoxy resin modified with 15 phr of CNBR-NP was increased twice relative to the neat epoxy resin. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the fracture surfaces showed that the improved plastic deformation and energy dissipation at the fibre-matrix interface contributed towards the enhanced fatigue life of the CFRP.

Toughening of carbon fibre reinforced polymer composites with rubber nanoparticles for advanced industrial applications

“…In CFRP composites, the difference between the elastic moduli of the carbon fibre and the resin matrix is quite significant and the stress transfer between the two phases is weak, creating residual stresses at the interface. However, the relatively compliant nanorubber toughened matrix can deform plastically, therefore relaxing the stress concentrations [15]. Plastic deformation at the fibre-matrix interface may act as an energy dissipation mechanism that provides an improved interfacial strength.…”

“…Hence, previous work deals with the properties of the nanorubber-toughened matrix resin only, and the current work represents a continuation, studying the mechanical properties of the CFRP composites with the nanorubber toughened epoxy resin matrices. In a recent work we have also shown that nanorubber toughening of the resin can improve the damping capacity of the matrix, leading to an enhanced fatigue life [15]. In general, a significant improvement in the fracture toughness of the composites with the addition of nanorubber to their matrices is usually accompanied by a modification of the glass transition temperature (T g ) [16].…”

Finding the best sequence in flexible and stiff composite laminates interleaved by nanofibers

“…Toughening thermoset composite laminates is one the most common methods for increasing the strength of these materials against delamination, especially under fatigue and impact loadings. 1 Different material types: (1) particle, [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] (2) film, [12][13][14][15][16] or (3) polymeric nanofiber [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] and methods: (1) mixing with the matrix before fabricating the sample [25][26][27][28][29] and (2) interleaving [30][31][32][33][34][35][36] have been introduced for this aim. All these methods and material types have their own advantages or disadvantages; for example, using nanoparticles as the toughener can incredibly increase fracture toughness; 6 but in practical applications, it can be very complicated.…”

Thermal, mechanical, and shape‐memory properties of nanorubber‐toughened, epoxy‐based shape‐memory nanocomposites

“…Crosslinked carboxylic nitrile–butadiene nanorubber (CNBNR) powder is well known for toughening epoxies without sacrificing their heat resistance . Meanwhile, CNBNR is easy to uniformly disperse in epoxy resins and preserve the characteristics of epoxies for composite matrixes . Therefore, such elastomeric nanoparticles may be one of the best choices of fillers for ESMP‐based composites to achieve excellent comprehensive performances.…”