Abstract: Mechanical properties of epoxy resin were investigated by adding core-shell elastic particles (CSEP). The results indicated that optimized core-shell ratio was 60/40 and the loading volume of CSEP was 10 phr (per hundred parts of epoxy resin by weight). The impact strength of modified systems increased apparently with the decrease of core sizes. However, the shearing strength changed gently with the particle sizes. CSEP with lightly crosslinked rubbery core showed more effectiveness on toughness than others. With solution blending, CSEP could be dispersed in epoxy matrix well, and the morphologies of dispersed rubber domains were controlled perfectly by CSEP whose structure was predesigned. A cavitation-shearing band toughness mechanism was observed from the SEM micrographs of fracture surface. It also was found that the deforming temperature (DT) of modified epoxy did not decline apparently.

Key words: Epoxy resin, Toughness, Core-shell particle