Improving interlaminar fracture toughness of flax fiber/epoxy composites with chopped flax yarn interleaving

In this research, unidirectional flax fabrics reinforced epoxy laminates were intedeaved with randomly oriented chopped flax yarns at various yarn lengths and contents. Mode I interlaminar fracture toughness of the laminates was evaluated via Double Cantilever Beam （DCB） tests. The results showed that Mode I interlaminar fracture toughness increased with the introduction of the chopped yarns. With moderate yarn length and content, the best toughening effect （31% improvement in Mode I inter- laminar fracture toughness） was achieved. It was observed with the aid of Scanning Electronic Microscopy （SEM） that the in- troduction of the chopped yarns resulted in more tortuous in-plane crack propagation paths as well as the ＂trans-layer＂ phe- nomenon and fiber bridging effect of both the unidirectional yams and the chopped yams. These hindered the growth of the crack and led to more energy dissipation during delamination progress. Excessive yam length or content would induce unstable crack propagation and thus weakened the toughening improvement. No remarkable change was found in the tensile properties and the Charpy impact strength for the interleaved laminates, which indicated that this interleaving method was effective on interlaminar toughening without sacrificing the comprehensive mechanical properties of the laminates.

Synergetic Improvement of Interlaminar Fracture Toughness in Carbon Fiber/Epoxy Composites Interleaved with PES/PEK‑C Hybrid Nanofiber Veils

In this study,two types of soluble thermoplastic resins were added to epoxy resin at a fixed weight ratio to prepare a three-phase cast body.The cast was then manufactured into hybrid nanofiber as interleaves for interlaminar toughening of carbon fiber/epoxy resin(CF/EP)composites using a co-solvent method.The results revealed that when the hybrid components reached 15 wt%,Polyethersulfone(PES)and polyaryletherketone cardo(PEK-C)exhibited the best synergistic toughening effect,and the fracture toughness increased by 99.8%and 39.8%,respectively,compared with the reference or the same proportion of the single PES toughened sample.We used PES/PEK-C hybrid nanofibers with an areal density of 19.2 g per square meter(gsm)as composite toughening layers.Apart from the lack of significant influence of PES nanofiber on CF/EP composites,the interlaminar fracture toughness of mode I and mode II layers increased by 88.3%and 46.9%,respectively,compared to the reference sample.Scanning Electron Microscopy of the fracture surface and cross-section micromorphology of the laminate displayed that the thermoplastic microspheres of different sizes contribute differently to crack resistance:PEK-C consumes more energy due to the debonding and extraction of microspheres and resin,whereas the presence of the PES phase can induce more plastic deformation and crack deflection.

Phase separation morphology and mode II interlaminar fracture toughness of bismaleimide laminates toughened by thermoplastics with triphenylphosphine oxide group

Toughness improvement of bismaleimide（BMI）resin is very important for its application in composite materials.Blending with

Controllable Delamination of CNT-Reinforced Carbon Fiber Films by Harnessing Mechanical and Topological Characteristics of the Composites

Carbon nanotubes(CNTs)offer a remarkable reinforcement effect for the interlaminar toughness of laminated films,and optimizing the delamination of films through their toughening mechanism is of particular interest.Herein,we propose a theoretical model that combines the spatial evolution of aligned CNTs to describe the mode I fracture between opposing carbon fiber films.Our theoretical predictions quantitatively agree well with previous tests,and the influence of interfacial energy and modulus of films on toughness enhancement is considered.Our findings have demonstrated that aligned CNTs play a crucial role in enhancing delamination resistance,with the performance being highly sensitive to their volume fraction,mechanical properties,and geometric characteristics.We optimized interlaminar toughness by selecting appropriate strength and aspect ratio of CNTs based on two competitive failure modes.This work presents new concept for the topological design of composite laminates,bridging the properties of microfibers and macrostructures and ultimately achieving greater strength and toughness.