Abstract
The paper studies the toughening effect of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as nanofiller on epoxy resins. We use the size-effect testing methodology to prepare geometrically similar epoxy specimens with varying MWCNT weight fractions. We tested 72 single-edge notched samples and 72 unnotched samples in tensile loading. The addition of MWCNTs resulted in a non-negligible fracture process zone (FPZ). A size-dependent strength is observed and is modeled using type-II energetic scaling law. The mode-I fracture toughness and the FPZ size increased with the MWCNT content, peaked at optimum weight fraction, and then decreased at higher weight fraction. Fractography showed the growth of nanoclusters with an increase in the MWCNT content. We speculate this reduction in the fracture toughness at higher weight fractions is due to failure occurring in the nanoclusters instead of the nanofiller-reinforced matrix.
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