Abstract
Efficient enhancement of the toughness of epoxy resins has been a bottleneck for expanding their suitability for advanced applications. Here, polysulfone (PSF) was adopted to toughen and modify the epoxy. The influences of PSF on the mechanical and thermal properties of the epoxy resin were systematically studied by optical microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analyzer (TG), dynamic mechanical thermal analyzer (DMA), mechanical tests and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The dissolution experimental results showed that PSF presents a good compatibility with the epoxy resin and could be well dissolved under controlled conditions. The introduction of PSF was found to promote the curing reaction of the epoxy resin without participating in the curing reaction and changing the curing mechanism as revealed by the FT-IR and DSC studies. The mechanical properties of PSF/epoxy resin blends showed that the fracture toughness and impact strength were significantly improved, which could be attributed to the bicontinuous phase structure of PSF/epoxy blends. Representative phase structures resulted from the reaction induced phase separation process were clearly observed in the PSF/epoxy blends during the curing process of epoxy resin, which presented dispersed particles, bicontinuous and phase inverted structures with the increase of the PSF content. Our work further confirmed that the thermal stability of the PSF/epoxy blends was slightly increased compared to that of the pure epoxy resin, mainly due to the good heat resistance of the PSF component.
Highlights
When nanoparticles are employed to modify the toughness of epoxy resins [10,11,12], the nanoparticles transfer the external force to the surroundings and induce microcracks in the Epoxy resins (EP) matrix achieving purposeful toughening
The results indicated that the addition of PSF promoted the curing reaction of epoxy resin but does not change its curing mechanism
PSF was employed in this work to improve the mechanical and thermal properties of the epoxy resin
Summary
Epoxy resins (EP) have been widely used in construction, machinery, aerospace and other related fields due to their low cost, excellent bonding performance, outstanding mechanical properties, easy processability, dimensional stability, superior thermal and chemical resistance [1,2,3]. Toughness modification of epoxy resins by rubber elastomer [6,7] is very effective but it reduces the mechanical properties and thermal stability of the epoxy resin. Toughening of the epoxy resin with a small amount of liquid crystal polymer [8,9] achieves a worthy toughness effect and makes the composite material have both the high orientation of the liquid crystal and the 3-dimensional network structure of the epoxy resin. When nanoparticles are employed to modify the toughness of epoxy resins [10,11,12], the nanoparticles transfer the external force to the surroundings and induce microcracks in the EP matrix achieving purposeful toughening
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