Abstract
This work investigates the fatigue behaviour and the mechanism of fatigue failure of an epoxy resin with a dispersion of modified layered silicates in the polymer matrix. The fatigue properties are very important for structural application of nanocomposite materials. Clay-epoxy nanocomposites were successfully synthesized with a commercially available 1-Methylimidazole curing agent. The XRD and TEM findings demonstrated a pattern of clay morphology typically found in nanocomposite systems. The fatigue performance and fatigue failure mechanism of the clay-epoxy materials were studied under repetitive bending loads. The results showed that the fatigue life of filled epoxy improved significantly at strain amplitudes below a threshold value. The E-SEM observations of the epoxy and the clay-epoxy fracture surfaces showed different patterns. In conclusion, the addition of silicate strongly determines the fracture mechanism and enhances the fatigue performance.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 3943-3946 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2006 |
Keywords
- Epoxy
- Fatigue properties
- Layered silicates
- Mode of fatigue failure