Highly Toughened Nanostructured Self-Assembled Epoxy-Based Material—Correlation Study between Nanostructured Morphology and Fracture Toughness—Impact Characteristics
Vasudevan Pillay R. Remya, Sundararajan Parani, El Hadji Mamour Sakho, R. Jose Varghese, Rodney Maluleke, Thabang Calvin Lebepe, Sam Masha, Nishar Hameed, Sabu Thomas, Oluwatobi S. Oluwafemi
Abstract
We present an efficient and effective method for preparing a novel self-assembled nanostructured material with high toughness and impact strength from a blend of di-glycidyl ether of bisphenol-A (DGEBA) and epoxidized poly(styrene-block-butadiene-block-styrene) (eSBS55) tri-block copolymer. The field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscope results show the nanostructured morphological characteristics of the blends. This study achieved the highest fracture toughness, with a fracture toughness in the form of critical stress intensity factors (KIC) value of 2.54 MPa m1/2, in epoxy/block copolymer blends compared to previous works in the field. The impact strength also increased by 116% compared to neat epoxy. This is a major advancement in epoxy toughening due to the use of a single secondary phase. The resulting highly tough and impact-resistant material is a promising candidate for coating applications in industries such as flooring, building, aerospace, and automobiles.