Enhancement in Mode II Interlaminar Fracture Toughness at Cryogenic Temperature of Glass FiberEpoxy Composites through Matrix Modification by Carbon Nanotubes and n-Butyl Glycidyl Ether

Abstract EN

A typical diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-F (DGEBF)/diethyl toluene diamine (DETD) epoxy system modified by multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and a reactive aliphatic diluent named n-butyl glycidyl ether (BGE) was used as the matrix for glass fiber composites.

The glass fiber (GF) reinforced composites based on the unmodified and modified epoxy matrices were prepared by the hand lay-up hot-press process.

Mode II interlaminar fracture toughness at both room temperature (RT) and cryogenic temperature (77 K) of the GF reinforced epoxy composites was investigated to examine the effect of the matrix modification.

The result showed that the introduction of MWCNTs and BGE at their previously reported optimal contents led to the remarkable enhancement in mode II interlaminar fracture toughness of the composites.

Namely, the 22.9% enhancement at RT and the 31.4% enhancement at 77 K were observed for mode II interlaminar fracture toughness of the fiber composite based on the optimally modified epoxy matrix by MWCNTs and BGE compared to the unmodified case.