COMPARISON OF INTERLAMINAR FRACTURETOUGHENING OF FILAMENT WOUND GLASS/EPOXYCOMPOSITES BY USING MWCNTs OR FLEXIBLE RESIN

摘要

The objective of this investigation is to compare two means of increasing the interlaminarrnfracture toughness (IFT) of fiber composites made by filament winding. Unidirectionallyrnreinforced IFT specimens were made by wet winding using a baseline rigid epoxy resin modifiedrneither with flexiblizer or multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). The Mode I and Mode IIrnIFTs of laminates with various combinations of MWCNTs and flexiblized epoxy on either sidernof the fracture plane increased substantially in comparison to the control laminate having allrigidrnepoxy. Placing a flexible epoxy layer on just one side of the fracture plane eliminated atrnleast half the potential gain of using flexible epoxy on both sides of the fracture plane. Usingrnflexible epoxy had a stronger influence on Mode I behavior than Mode II behavior. Introducing arnsmall amount of MWCNTs to the rigid epoxy on both sides of the fracture plane has less of arnbenefit than using flexible resin in the Mode I case. However, in Mode II, using MWCNTs inrnthe rigid resin was nearly as effective in toughening the material as using flexiblizer on bothrnsides of the fracture plane.