Interfacial Mobility and Its Effect on Interlaminar Fracture Toughness in Glass-fibre-reinforced Epoxy Laminates

Abstract

The effects of interfacial treatment of glass fibres in glass/epoxy composites were studied through Mode I delamination fracture toughness tests using a double cantilever beam specimen. The treatment of glass fibres with two similar silane coupling agents has been shown to improve the mechanical properties of the composite as a function of the type of coupling agent. γ-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APS) and γ-aminobutyltriethoxysilane (ABS) have similar chemistry, but differ in mobility (molecular motion) at the coupling agent-epoxy interface. The critical energy release rate, G 1c, for the APS-treated composites (0.59 ± 0.05 kJ m -2) was shown to be higher than that of the ABS-treated one (0.37 ± 0.01 kJ m -2) and also the untreated one (0.31 ± 0.02 kJ m -2). In this case, the bulk structural property appears to be a function of the microscopic interfacial properties including the dynamics of the coupling agent layer. Optical characterization of the fracture surfaces reveal delamination at the epoxy-glass interface for the untreated samples, while the ABS- and APS-treated samples showed less interfacial delamination, respectively. © 1996 Chapman & Hall.

Department(s)

Chemistry

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0022-2461

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 1996 Springer Verlag, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 1996

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