TY - JOUR
T1 - Highly Toughened Nanostructured Self-Assembled Epoxy-Based Material—Correlation Study between Nanostructured Morphology and Fracture Toughness—Impact Characteristics
AU - Remya, Vasudevan Pillay
AU - Parani, Sundararajan
AU - Sakho, El Hadji Mamour
AU - Rajendran, Jose Varghese
AU - Maluleke, Rodney
AU - Lebepe, Thabang Calvin
AU - Masha, Sam
AU - Hameed, Nishar
AU - Thomas, Sabu
AU - Oluwafemi, Oluwatobi Samuel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.
PY - 2023/4
Y1 - 2023/4
N2 - We present an efficient and effective method for preparing a novel self-assembled nanostructured material with high toughness and impact strength from a blend of di-glycidyl ether of bisphenol-A (DGEBA) and epoxidized poly(styrene-block-butadiene-block-styrene) (eSBS55) tri-block copolymer. The field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscope results show the nanostructured morphological characteristics of the blends. This study achieved the highest fracture toughness, with a fracture toughness in the form of critical stress intensity factors (KIC) value of 2.54 MPa m1/2, in epoxy/block copolymer blends compared to previous works in the field. The impact strength also increased by 116% compared to neat epoxy. This is a major advancement in epoxy toughening due to the use of a single secondary phase. The resulting highly tough and impact-resistant material is a promising candidate for coating applications in industries such as flooring, building, aerospace, and automobiles.
AB - We present an efficient and effective method for preparing a novel self-assembled nanostructured material with high toughness and impact strength from a blend of di-glycidyl ether of bisphenol-A (DGEBA) and epoxidized poly(styrene-block-butadiene-block-styrene) (eSBS55) tri-block copolymer. The field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscope results show the nanostructured morphological characteristics of the blends. This study achieved the highest fracture toughness, with a fracture toughness in the form of critical stress intensity factors (KIC) value of 2.54 MPa m1/2, in epoxy/block copolymer blends compared to previous works in the field. The impact strength also increased by 116% compared to neat epoxy. This is a major advancement in epoxy toughening due to the use of a single secondary phase. The resulting highly tough and impact-resistant material is a promising candidate for coating applications in industries such as flooring, building, aerospace, and automobiles.
KW - fracture mechanism
KW - highly toughened
KW - impact strength
KW - nanostructured
KW - self-assembled
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85152860896&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/polym15071689
DO - 10.3390/polym15071689
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85152860896
SN - 2073-4360
VL - 15
JO - Polymers
JF - Polymers
IS - 7
M1 - 1689
ER -