Crack propagation in and fractography of epoxy resins

The relationship between the stability of crack propagation in, and the fracture surface appearance of, DGEBA epoxy resins cured with TETA has been investigated using a linear elastic fracture mechanics approach. In particular, the effect of varying the amount of curing agent and curing conditions and altering external variables such as testing rate, temperature and environment have been studied. Under certain conditions, propagation is found to be stable and fracture surfaces have a smooth appearance. Under other conditions the cracks propagate in an unstable stick-slip manner. In this case, arrest lines can be seen on the fracture surfaces and their intensity and roughness increases with the magnitude of the crack jumps. The roughness of the fracture surfaces has been measured using a Talysurf and this has been shown to be due principally to deviation of the cracks from the original fracture plane rather than any gross plastic deformation.     

Electrically conductive glass fibre reinforced epoxy resin

 The research on an industrially manufactured, electrically conductive glass fibre reinforced epoxy prepreg for aviation applications is reported. In a co-operative effort between Technical University Hamburg-Harburg (TUHH) and Daimler-Benz Aerospace Airbus (DASA) a new glass-epoxy composite with both electrical and good mechanical properties was successfully developed. The electrical conductivity was achieved adding carbon black as a conductive filler into the epoxy matrix and this at a very low level of content. The range of possible applications for this new material is not only limited to aviation. It can also be used in other transport systems or in electric and electronic devices. Received: 21 July 1998 / Accepted: 28 August 1998     

Treated polyethylene fibres as reinforcement for epoxy resins

Ultra-high-modulus polyethylene (UHMPE) fibres were treated in order to develop favourable surface and, possibly, microstructure characteristics. The main aim was to eliminate the microfibrillar morphology of the fibre and improve interfacial bonding between fibre/matrix so that better compressive properties can be achieved in reinforced resins. Calendering at 130 °C was performed, and the surface treatment used oxidative solutions. Adhesive bonding to epoxy matrices was highly improved in chromosulphate-treated material exceeding that of a commercial, corona-treated product, but the mechanical properties of these fibres deteriorated. Calendering did not significantly affect fibre strength and only improved adhesive bonding slightly. The use of these treated reinforcements is expected to improve the performance of composite materials, especially at low fibre volume fractions, because of their improved interfacial characteristics.     

Prediction of steel fibre reinforced concrete under flexure from an inferred fibre pull-out response

Steel fibre-reinforced concrete (SFRC) is being used in a variety of structural applications, yet there is still considerable debate how to express and evaluate flexural toughness for design purposes. This is holding back the material's development as a permanent structural material. Existing beam and slab test methods have problems with variability or their application in structural design. Furthermore, existing models of SFRC flexural behaviour do not fully capture what happens at the cracked section in terms of the fibre-matrix interactions. Typical of these approaches is the modelling of the tension zone from single fibre pull-out tests, which is problematic in measurement of the load-displacement relationship, the interaction of groups of fibres and the extensive testing required to cover all permutations of fibre geometry. An alternative approach is proposed where the average pull-out response of the fibres bridging the cracked zone is inferred from flexural beam tests. The characteristic load versus crack-mouth opening displacement behaviour for a particular fibre concrete then forms part of the stress and strain/displacement profile in a flexural analysis to predict moment capacity in a design calculation. The model is explained together with its validation by comparing the predicted load-displacement response for a range of fibre volumes in sprayed and cast SFRC. It is concluded that the analysis of beam load/deflection curves to infer the fibre pull-out response is a viable approach. It offers a promising solution to the need for a flexural design model combined with a practical method of characterizing the tensile contribution of steel fibres.     

Investigation of flax fibre reinforced epoxy friction composites

The use of eco‐materials on the basis of natural fibre reinforced polymer composites has found its way to many applications. In the automobile sector, the use of such composites has long been established for applications in the car interior. The use of natural fibre reinforced composites for braking applications has however not been confirmed yet. In this study the use of flax fibres as a candidate reinforcement substitution for glass or even the carcinogenic asbestos fibres has been investigated. Typical frictional materials such as alumina, iron and brass particulates have been used together with graphite as a lubricant. Epoxy resin was used as the binding matrix. Results show frictional behaviours comparable with commercially available brake linings at acceptable wear rates.     

Role of fibre surface—matrix combination in carbon fibre reinforced epoxy composites

The effect of surface treatment of carbon fibres with concentrated as well as dilute nitric acid on the mechanical properties of carbon fibres has been reported. The role of the fibre—matrix interface in carbon fibre reinforced epoxy resin composites has been studied. Composites have been made both with untreated and surface treated carbon fibres and epoxy resin Araldite LY556 with different hardeners. Mechanical properties as well as fracture behaviour of these composites suggest that it is the physical interlocking between the fibres and the matrix, along with some chemical bonding between the two, and not the pure chemical bonding which yield better composites.     

The torsional creep of carbon fibre reinforced epoxide resins

The torsional creep of composite specimens containing 60% by volume of unidirectional HT-S carbon fibre, and of unreinforced epoxide resin has been studied. Measurements were made at temperatures of 25, 50, 75 and 90° C, in two environments — air and water. Torsional preloads of up to 40% of the ultimate torsional strength were applied. All the specimens showed primary and secondary creep behaviour during the 170 h test period, and a few resin ones tertiary creep. The effects, on the secondary creep rate, of varying the proportion of hardener in the matrix and the cure schedule were marked. The lowest creep rate for a given set of test conditions was obtained when the stoichiometric amount of hardener was used and the maximum cure given. Using specimens of this optimum type, more detailed studies of creep were performed. In all cases the activation energy for secondary creep lies between 5 and 6.3 kcal (g mol)^–1 indicating that the same basic mechanism occurs in each instance. The shear stress,, was found to be proportional to the logarithm of the secondary creep rate.     

Anomalies in moisture absorption of glass fibre reinforced epoxy tubes

This paper describes the moisture absorption of glass/epoxy panels and tubes produced by filament winding. Panels have been immersed in distilled water for up to 10 years at temperatures up to 60°C to establish baseline data. Tubes of the same material were wound at ±55° to the tube axis with two diameters, 60 and 150 mm. These were also immersed in water and lower absorption levels were measured than in panels. Another series of tubes was subjected to internal and external water contact and it was established for both tube diameters that virtually no water enters through the inner wall. Reasons for this apparent internal barrier effect are examined.     

Effect of surface treatment upon the pull-out behaviour of aramid fibres from epoxy resins

A detailed study has been undertaken of the pull-out behaviour of aramid fibres with different surface characteristics from blocks of an epoxy resin matrix. The fibres employed had either no surface treatment (HM), a standard surface finish (HMF) or had been treated with a special epoxy-based adhesion-activating finish (HMA). The point-to-point variation of axial fibre strain along the fibres both inside and outside of the resin matrix has been determined from stress-induced Raman band shifts. This has enabled the distribution of interfacial shear stress along the fibre/matrix interface to be determined and, in combination with scanning electron microscope analysis of the specimens following pull-out testing, the failure mechanisms to be elucidated. It is found that pull out of the HM fibre takes place by a debond propagating along the fibre/matrix interface at a low level of interfacial shear stress. The HMF fibre showed better adhesion to the epoxy matrix with pull out occurring in a complex manner through both separation of the fibre skin and failure at the fibre/finish interface. No evidence of debonding was found for the HMA fibre and failure occurred by fracture of the fibre at the point where it entered the resin block.     

The wear resistance of glass fibre reinforced epoxy composites

Polymers are usually characterized by low moduli and strength. Epoxy, as a thermoset material, has a low wear resistance. Additions of glass fibres improve the elastic modulus and tensile strength and can improve the wear resistance. The composites were prepared by pultrusion of the glass fibres after saturation of epoxy. The fibre volume fraction was varied up to 50%. Tensile and wear tests were carried out to examine the improvement in the composite properties. A small deviation of the tensile strength and the elastic modulus from the calculated values using the rule of mixture was observed due to the existence of porosities. The wear resistance increases with increasing the sliding velocity, with decreasing the applied contact pressure and with selecting the most favourable glass fibre volume fraction.     

Mechanical properties of a self-healing fibre reinforced epoxy composites

Inspired by biological systems in which damage triggers an autonomic healing response, a polymer composite material that can heal itself when cracked has been developed. In this work, compression and tensile properties of a self-healed fibre reinforced epoxy composites were investigated. Microencapsulated epoxy and mercaptan healing agents were incorporated into a glass fibre reinforced epoxy matrix to produce a polymer composite capable of self-healing. The self-repair microcapsules in the epoxy resin would break as a result of microcrack expansion in the matrix, and letting out the strong repair agent to recover the mechanical strength with a relative healing efficiency of up to 140% which is a ratio of healed property value to initial property value or healing efficiency up to 119% if using the healed strength with the damaged strength.     

Dynamic observation of fracture in particulate-filled epoxy resins reinforced with rubber

Crack propagation in epoxy resins filled with alumina trihydrate has been observed by dynamic in situ scanning electron microscopy. Double torsion specimens were fractured inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM) connected to a video recorder. Characteristic features of the crack propagation process were observed. The fracture mode was mainly intergranular at low crack velocities, (ca. 10 m/s) with evidence of filler particle cracking (transgranular fracture) at higher velocities or after acid-washing the particles. Extensive shear yielding of the epoxy matrix occurred between closely spaced filler particles within the crack tip damage zone. Post-mortem static observations of the fracture surfaces were also carried out. The addition of rubber toughening agents modified the crack propagation process. In some cases the rubber was present as fine, evenly distributed particles while in others there were coarser precipitates and/or what appeared to be rubber-rich epoxy phases. Ligamentary bridges across crack faces in the crack wake necked to fracture at low crack velocities but failed by cavitation under rapid loading. Energy dissipation by local shear yielding of the matrix was still prominent. Vinyl terminated rubber addition induced especially widespread yielding. Out-of-SEM determinations of tensile and fracture parameters were consistent with dynamic SEM observations.     

Interfacial debonding and fibre pull-out stresses

Based on a theoretical model developed previously by the authors in Part II of this series for a single fibre pull-out test, a methodology for the evaluation of interfacial properties of fibre-matrix composites is presented to determine the interfacial fracture toughness G _c, the friction coefficient , the radial residual clamping stress q _o and the critical bonded fibre length z _max. An important parameter, the stress drop , which is defined as the difference between the maximum debond stress _d ^* and the initial frictional pull-out stress _fr, is introduced to characterize the interfacial debonding and fibre pull-out behaviour. The maximum logarithmic stress drop, In(), is obtained when the embedded fibre length L is equal to the critical bonded fibre length z _max. The slope of the In()-L curve for L bigger than z _max is found to be a constant that is related to the interfacial friction coefficient . The effect of fibre anisotropy on fibre debonding and fibre pull-out is also included in this analysis. Published experimental data for several fibre-matrix composites are chosen to evaluate their interfacial properties by using the present methodology.On leave at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong.     

Interfacial debonding and fibre pull-out stresses

The stress field arising in the fibre pull-out test is analysed by means of the finite element method. A focus has been placed on the roles of the compliant interlayer present between fibre and matrix for stress distributions in the constituents and debond process at the interface regions. In a parametric study on a carbon fibre-epoxy matrix composite, elastic properties and thickness of the interlayer were varied, and the results compared with those for composites without interlayers. The practical implications of the findings are critically discussed.     

Interfacial debonding and fibre pull-out stresses

Two current theories [11, 17] of interfacial debonding and fibre pull-out, which have been developed on the basis of fracture mechanics and shear strength criteria, respectively, are critically compared with experimental results of several composite systems. From the plots of partial debond stress, _d ^p , as a function of debond length, three different cases of the interfacial debond process can be identified, i.e. totally unstable, partially stable and totally stable. The stability of the debond process is governed not only by elastic constants, relative volume of fibre and matrix but more importantly by the nature of bonding at the interface and embedded fibre length,L. It is found that for the epoxy-based matrix composite systems, Gaoet al.'s model [17] predicts the trend of maximum debond stress, _d ^* , very well for longL, but it always overestimates _d ^* for very shortL. In contrast, Hsueh's model [11] has the capability to predict _d ^* for shortL, but it often needs significant adjustment to the bond shear strength for a better fit of the experimental results for longL. For a ceramic-based matrix composite, _d ^* predicted by the two models agree exceptionally well with experiment over almost the whole range ofL, a reflection that the assumed stable debond process in theory is actually achieved in practice. With respect to the initial frictional pull-out stress, _f, the agreement between the two theories and experiments is excellent for all range ofL and all composite systems, suggesting that the solutions for _f proposed by the two models are essentially identical. Although Gaoet al.'s model has the advantage to determine accurately the important interfacial properties such as residual clamping stress,q _o, and coefficient of friction, , it needs some modifications if accurate predictions of _d ^* are sought for very shortL. These include varying interfacial fracture toughness,G _ic with debond crack growth, unstable debonding for very shortL and inclusion of shear deformation in the matrix for the evaluation ofG _ic and fibre stress distribution. Hsueh's model may also be improved to obtain a better solution by including the effect of matrix axial stress existing at the debonded region on the frictionless debond stress, _o.