The fracture behavior of toughened epoxy systems has been extensively studied in the past. Epoxies have been successfully toughened by many means such as the addition of reactive liquid polymers, core-shell latex particles, thermoplastic particles and glass beads, just to name a few. This particular study focuses on the incorporation of both silica microspheres and rubber nanoparticles to produce hybrid epoxy systems with significant toughness. Two types of silica microspheres and two types of rubber nanoparticles are examined. Interestingly, core-shell rubber nanoparticles were found to be effective toughening agents even at high silica contents.
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