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Enhancing the Fracture Resistance and Impact Toughness of Mechanically Frothed Epoxy Foams with Hollow Elastomeric Microspheres
Author(s) -
Song Wenzhe,
Tagarielli Vito L.,
Lee KoonYang
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
macromolecular materials and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.913
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1439-2054
pISSN - 1438-7492
DOI - 10.1002/mame.201800363
Subject(s) - materials science , epoxy , composite material , elastomer , glass microsphere , charpy impact test , toughness , fracture toughness , brittleness , microsphere , compressive strength , porosity , chemical engineering , engineering
Nonporous elastomeric particles are often employed to improve the toughness of brittle epoxy foams but this also decreases their compressive strength and stiffness. Herein, a novel strategy utilizing hollow elastomeric microspheres as toughening agent for epoxy foams is presented. The addition of 0.5 wt.% hollow elastomeric microspheres into epoxy foam leads to a 15% increase in critical stress intensity factor ( K 1c ) to 0.38 MPa m 0.5 and 33% increase in Charpy impact strength ( a cU ) to 1.05 kJ m −2 , respectively, compared to unfilled epoxy foam ( K 1c = 0.33 MPa m 0.5 and a cU = 0.79 kJ m −2 ). However, a further increase in the hollow elastomeric microsphere concentration to 1.0 wt.% leads to microsphere agglomeration, which reduces both K 1c and a cU to 0.35 MPa m 0.5 and 0.93 kJ m −2 , respectively. Nevertheless, the added hollow elastomeric microspheres do not lead to a reduction in the quasi‐static compressive properties of the epoxy foams.