Establishment of interlaminar structure and crack propagation in carbon
fiber reinforced epoxy composites by interleaving CNTs/PEK-C film
Abstract
The synergistic combination of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and ductile
thermoplastic resin has shown large potential in the improvement of
fracture resistance for the epoxy matrix composites using the
interleaving toughening method in recent years. The hybrid structure of
CNTs and thermoplastic resin in interlayers affects directly the
interlaminar structure and the resultant crack propagation path of the
interleaved composites. In this work, the CNTs and thermoplastic
polyetherketone-cardo (PEK-C) were used to prepare the interlayer with
different hybrid structures to interleave the carbon fiber reinforced
epoxy composites and the influence of hybrid structure on the
interlaminar structure and the fracture toughness was investigated. The
results showed that PEK-C/CNT/PEK-C sandwich interlayer produced the
best toughening effect in mode I interlaminar fracture toughness (GIC) and the GIC was
446.76 J/m 2, increased by 138.11% compared to blank
composites, which benefited from the multilayered structure in the
interlaminar region formed during curing process and the resultant
tortuous crack propagation.