• Macromolecular Research
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.11-21
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• 2004

Toughening of epoxy resins for improvement of crack resistance has been the subject of intense research interest during the last two decades. Epoxy resins are successfully toughened by blending with a suitable liquid rubber, which initially remains miscible with epoxy and undergoes a phase separation in the course of curing that leads to the formation of a two-phase microstructure, or by directly blending preformed rubbery particle. Unlike the situation for thermoplastics, physical blending is not successful for toughening epoxy resins. Recent advances in the development of various functionalized liquid rubber-based toughening agents and core-shell particles are discussed critically in this review.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.1266-1273
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• 1998

Al2O3/(5~20vol%)LaAl11O18 composites in which the second phase was dispersed with a elongated grain shape were fabricated using Al2O3 and La2O3 composition by hot-pressing. In order investigate the in-fluence of LaAl11O18 on the toughening of LaAl11O18 on the toughening of Al2O3 matrix composites AE(acoustic emission) analysis was con-ducted together with an evaluation of fracture toughness using of SEPB technique. The degree of AE events occurred in composites were more than those in monolithic alumina. The occurrences of AE event increased with increasing the amount of LaAl11O18 phase in the Al2O3/LaAl11O18 composite is two times higher compared to monolithic alu-mina. The main toughening mechanism was attributed to the bridging of LaAl11O18 grains at tip of pro-pagating crack.

• Carbon letters
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• v.25
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• pp.43-49
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• 2018

This study suggests the novel thermoplastic toughening agent, which can be applied in the monomer forms without increasing the viscosity of the epoxy resin and polymerized during the resin curing. The diazide (p-BAB) and dialkyne (SPB) compounds are synthesized and mixed with the epoxy resin and the carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composites are prepared using vacuum infusion process (VIP). Then, flexural and drop weight tests are performed to evaluate the improvement in the toughness of the prepared composites to investigate the potential of the novel toughening agent. When 10 phr of p-BAB and SPB is added, the flexural properties are improved, maintaining the modulus as well as the toughness is improved. Even with a small amount of polytriazolesulfone polymerized, due to the filtering effect of the solid SPB by the layered carbon fabrics during the VIP, the toughening and strengthening effect were observed from the novel toughening agent, which could be added in monomer forms, p-BAB and SPB. This suggests that the novel toughening agent has a potential to be used for the composites prepared from viscosity sensitive process, such as resin transfer molding and VIP.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.34 no.11
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• pp.1129-1138
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• 1997

Al2O3/20 vol%YAG composite containing equiaxed grains and Al2O3/20 vol%LaAl11O18 composite containing elongated grains were fabricated using Al2O3-Y2O3 composition and Al2O3-La2O3 composition, respectively, by hot-pressing. In order to investigate the influence of microstructural control of second phase on toughening effect of toughened ceramic composites, AE (acoustic emission) measurements have been coupled with fracture toughness experiments(SENB and SEPB method). A separation of the fracture toughness and analysis of toughening mechanism was possible using the AE technique. The fracture toughness of hot-pressed materials was estimated to be 3.2 MPam0.5 for monolithic alumina, 4.7 MPam0.5 for Al2O3/20 vol%YAG composite and 6.2 MPam0.5 for Al2O3/20 vol%LaAl11O18 composite. In monolithic Al2O3, toughening does not occur as a result of either microcracking or grain bridging, whereas, composites exhibit toughening effects by both microcracking in the frontal zone and gain bridging in the wake zone, resulting in an improvement of fracture toughness as compared with monolithic Al2O3. The fracture toughness of Al2O3/20 vol%LaAl11O18 composite is higher than that of Al2O3/20 vol%YAG composite. It may be attributed to the elongated microstructure of Al2O3/20 vol%LaAl11O18 composite, resulting relatively greater bridging effect.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.359-367
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• 2000

Particulate composites of Al2O3/SiC, Al2O3/ZrO2 and Al2O3/ZrO2/SiC have been fabricated to investigate their R-curve behaviors and toughening mechanisms. Al2O3 containing 30 vol% SiC particles of 3${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ showed rising R-curve behavior owing to the strong crack bridging by SiC particles. The fracture toughness reached 9.1 MPa {{{{ SQRT {m} }} at the crack length of 1000${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. On the other hand, ZrO2-toughened Al2O3 had a high flat R-curve since it rose steeply in the short crack region due to the well known transformation toughening. For Al2O3/ZrO2/SiC composites, the R-curve behavior was similar to that of Al2O3/SiC but with slightly higher toughness. The SiC particles in this composite decreased the amount of transformable tetragonal phase to reduce the effect of transformation toughening by 50%. It was also found that the fracture toughness of this composite with two different toughening mechanisms was markedly lower than that estimated by the simple addition of two contributions.

• Proceedings of the Polymer Society of Korea Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.290-290
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• 2006

The toughening mechanisms of polypropylene (PP) containing 9.2 vol % of calcium carbonate ($CaCO_{3}$) nanoparticles were investigated using optical microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Double-notch four-point bending (DN-4PB) Charpy impact specimens were utilized to study the fracture mechanism(s) responsible for the observed toughening effect. A detailed investigation reveals that the $CaCO_{3}$ nanoparticles act as stress concentrators to initiate massive crazes, followed by shear banding in PP matrix. These toughening mechanisms are responsible for the observed improved impact strength.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.132-138
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• 1999

In order to investigate the toughening characteristic by microcrack formation in ceramic composites, $Al_2$O$_3$/(0~20)vol% YAG composites containing equiaxed second grains were fabricated using$ Al_2$$O_3$ during hot-pressing. AE(acoustic emission) measurements have been coupled with fracture toughness experiments of SENB method, to evaluate the microcrack formation and the improvement in fracture toughness of ceramic composites. Formation of microcrack was detected by Ae. The generation of AE events increased with increasing of load when load was applied at specimen. The AE events are generated mainly around at maximum load. Specially, the detected AE evetns of composites are many as compared with monolithic $Al_2$$O_3$. Fracture toughness of composites was improved than that of monolithic alumina. $Al_2$O$_3$/YAG composites exhibit main toughening effects by microcracking, results from mutual coalesence of microcracks being generated under applied load. However, there are few toughening mechanism like microcracking in monolithic alumina.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.123-129
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• 2007

Toughening mechanisms and mechanical properties of three different polyolefin-based composite systems we studied using the tensile, Izod impact and double-notch lout-point-bending (DN-4PB) test, which is well known be an effective tool for probing the failure mechanism (s) around the subcritically propagated crack tip. Microscopy observations such as optical microscopy and transmission electron microscopy were carried out lot the test samples. A detailed investigation clearly shows that a variety of toughening mechanisms, i.e., shear yielding, craze, particle-matrix debonding, rubber particle cavitation, crack deflection and bifurcation, are observed around crack tip damage zone. These toughening mechanisms are responsible for the observed, improved fracture toughness. Based on this study, DN-4PB technique is sufficient to obtain the information needed to describe the fracture behavior of polyolefin-based composites as well as their corresponding toughening mechanisms.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.106-109
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• 2001

In this work, we investigate the toughening mechanism of the rubber-modified epoxy resin. The fracture toughness($K_{IC}$) is measured using CT specimens for three kinds of rubber-modified epoxy resin with different rubber content. The damage zone and rubber particles around a crack tip of a damaged specimen just before fracture are observed by a polarization microscope and an atomic force microscope(AFM). Both the fracture energy($G_{IC}$) and the size of damage zone increase with the rubber content below l5wt%. The size of the rubber particles can be qualitatively correlated with the $G_{IC}$ and the size of damage zone. The cavitation of the rubber particles inside the damage zone is observed, which is expected to be main toughening mechanism by rubber particles. the stress which causes the cavitation of rubber particles is estimated by the Dugdale model.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.464-470
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• 1996

Toughening mechanism of boron carbide ceramics by the addition of titanium boride was investigated. Speci-men was prepared by hot pressing of boron carbide with upto 30vol% of titanium boride particulates. Toughness of boron carbide ceramics was increased from 4.7 MPa m1/2 to 6.3 MPa m1/2 with 15 vol% TiB2 addition. But further increase of TiB2 content results in slow decrease of toughness. From microstructure evaluation and crack propagation behavior it is concluded that the major toughening mechanism is crack deflection pheno-mena.