Paper number 486

THE INFLUENCE OF RUBBER PARTICLE CONCENTRATION ON FRACTURE TOUGHNESS OF INTERLAYER-TOUGHENED VINYL-ESTER/GLASS FIBRE COMPOSITE

Dejan Stevanovic, P. -Y. Ben Jar, Adrian Lowe & Shankar Kalyanasundaram

Department of Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia

Summary

An investigation into the influence of rubber particle concentration on Mode I and Mode II fracture toughness of an interlayer toughened vinylester/glass composite has been undertaken. Fracture toughness in both modes were found to be highly influenced by the particle concentration in the interlayer region. Optimum particle concentration was around 7% and 3.5% for Mode I and Mode II respectively, that resulted the increase of fracture toughness around 85% in comparison with the base composite material without an interlayer. It was found that the physical presence of rubber particles in the interlayer and chemical modification of the interlayer resin were responsible for the toughness increase. Mode I crack propagation ranged from highly unstable to completely stable, as the particle concentration increased. Mode II crack propagation was stable for all studied rubber concentrations. The study established the basic toughening mechanisms for the interlayer-toughened vinylester/glass fiber composite.

Keywords

interlayer toughening, interlaminar fracture toughness, crack propagation, mode I, mode II.