J Mater Sci Technol ›› 1996, Vol. 12 ›› Issue (1): 46-50.

• Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Toughening of Epoxy Resin with Microspheres

Shijiu JIN; Xiaobing FENG; Jianquan PANG; Xiaoling HUA; Yiming LI and Yunzhao YU(Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China)   

  • Received:1996-01-28 Revised:1996-01-28 Online:1996-01-28 Published:2009-10-10

Abstract: Special microspheres dispersed in epoxy resin prior to curing can toughen brittle resin by formationof a second phase. In this work, rigid particles (HP), hollow particles (PO) and rubber powders(PR) are used to modify epoxy resins for the study on the toughening mechanism. The single-edge notched three-point bending test and T peel test have been used to measure the toughnessof epoxy resin. The morphology (particle/matrix interfacial shape) of epoxy resin modified withthese three kinds of microspheres has been investigated by transmission electron microscopy(TEM). The results show that these three kinds of modifiers are all effective, and the core-shellrubber particle (PR) is the best toughening modifier among them. It is also found that thetoughening effect is dependent on the morphology of the interface between the particles andmatrix and the different curing conditions really result in obviously different interface states.The excellent interfacial interaction plays a significant role in toughening epoxy resin.