Effects of a Nano-Interleave on the Interlaminar Fracture Toughness for Autoclave and Out-of-Autoclave Processed Glass/Phenolic Composites

Abstract

In this research, Polyvinyl butyral (PVB) nanofiber as an interlaminar toughener was used in two autoclave and out-of-autoclave (OoA) curing processes in which the effect of curing method on the ability of nanofiber toughening and effectiveness of nanofiber to improve fracture properties of OoA-made structures were studied. For these investigations, PVB nanoweb was placed on mid plans of laminates and cured with the vacuum bag and the autoclave processing which were subsequently subjected to double cantilever beam (DCB) and end-notch flexure (ENF) tests. It was found that PVB nanoweb with the thickness of [Formula: see text] and nanofiber diameter of 158.6[Formula: see text]nm could increase mode-I fracture toughness ([Formula: see text]) 164% and 89% and mode-II fracture toughness ([Formula: see text] 58% and 62% for autoclave and out-of-autoclave-made specimens in comparison with their non-modified samples, respectively. This research also proved PVB nanofiber has the capacity to improve 16% and 10% [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] of OoA-made sample compared to the non-modified autoclave-made samples. So, we could conclude modified OoA-made laminated composite is a truly suitable replacement choice for autoclave-made glass–phenolic composites.