City Research Online

Abstract

Matrix toughening is one of the most popular approaches to improve the overall fracture toughness of polymer composite materials. The most widely known approach for matrix toughening is the addition of a second phase such as rigid or/and rubber particles to dissipate the fracture energy, and vessels that containing healing agents that prevent further crack propagation when ruptured. Only a few studies have shown an alternative ‘active toughening’ by introducing an internal compressive stress field in the matrix via the mismatch in filler/matrix thermal expansion under heating. In this study, epoxy composite materials with embedded ferroelectric barium titanate nanoparticles are fabricated with the aid of silane surface functionalisation. Surface-bonded fibre grating sensors are employed to investigate the strain and temperature change of the epoxy nanocomposite materials under microwave exposure, as an attempt to introduce such field aided strain tailoring of the epoxy matrix as an active toughening mechanism.

Publication Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Additional Information:	©2022 Danning Li et al. published under CC BY-NC 4.0 license.
Publisher Keywords:	Multifunctional nanocomposites; Matrix toughening; Ferroelectrics; Barium titanate; Domain wall movement
Subjects:	T Technology > TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
Departments:	School of Science & Technology > Engineering

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