Experimental study of crack diversion, bridging mechanisms and enhanced delamination strength by dispersed carbon nanotubes in glass fibers composite laminates

Due to low toughness and strain-to-fracture, glass fibers (GFs) based composites suffer greatly from edge delamination and are therefore barely applied in automotive and aerospace technology. The self-similar crack propagation (SSCP), which occurs in metals and alloys, also plays a crucial role in c...

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Main Authors: Hsin-Jung Tsai, Yu-Sheng Lin, Ching-Hao Liu, Wen-Kuang Hsu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-10-01
Series:Materials & Design
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264127525010147
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author Hsin-Jung Tsai
Yu-Sheng Lin
Ching-Hao Liu
Wen-Kuang Hsu
author_facet Hsin-Jung Tsai
Yu-Sheng Lin
Ching-Hao Liu
Wen-Kuang Hsu
author_sort Hsin-Jung Tsai
collection DOAJ
description Due to low toughness and strain-to-fracture, glass fibers (GFs) based composites suffer greatly from edge delamination and are therefore barely applied in automotive and aerospace technology. The self-similar crack propagation (SSCP), which occurs in metals and alloys, also plays a crucial role in controlling delamination strength and toughness of GFs composites. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are one-dimensional conductors made of rounded graphite sheets and can be incorporated into polymers to create a new type of composites with electrical conductivity and mechanical stiffness much greater at a similar filling fraction compared with carbon black and graphene systems. In this work, multi-walled CNTs are used as secondary reinforcements and are dispersed at inter-regions of GFs/epoxy composite laminates. Microscopic analyses indicate that aligned GFs provide the primary reinforcement and micro-cracks around fibers are bridged and diverted by CNT stick–slip mechanism, namely, the SSCP retardation by CNTs. Mechanical measurements reveal improvements by 75% in bending stress, 46% in bending modulus, 75.24% fracture strain and 186.36% in toughness (delamination strength).
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spelling doaj-art-d115189fc88443b791341d8d98e4428b2025-08-20T04:03:22ZengElsevierMaterials & Design0264-12752025-10-0125811459410.1016/j.matdes.2025.114594Experimental study of crack diversion, bridging mechanisms and enhanced delamination strength by dispersed carbon nanotubes in glass fibers composite laminatesHsin-Jung Tsai0Yu-Sheng Lin1Ching-Hao Liu2Wen-Kuang Hsu3Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Tsing-Hua University, Hsinchu City 300044, TaiwanDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, National Tsing-Hua University, Hsinchu City 300044, TaiwanDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, National Tsing-Hua University, Hsinchu City 300044, TaiwanCorresponding author.; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Tsing-Hua University, Hsinchu City 300044, TaiwanDue to low toughness and strain-to-fracture, glass fibers (GFs) based composites suffer greatly from edge delamination and are therefore barely applied in automotive and aerospace technology. The self-similar crack propagation (SSCP), which occurs in metals and alloys, also plays a crucial role in controlling delamination strength and toughness of GFs composites. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are one-dimensional conductors made of rounded graphite sheets and can be incorporated into polymers to create a new type of composites with electrical conductivity and mechanical stiffness much greater at a similar filling fraction compared with carbon black and graphene systems. In this work, multi-walled CNTs are used as secondary reinforcements and are dispersed at inter-regions of GFs/epoxy composite laminates. Microscopic analyses indicate that aligned GFs provide the primary reinforcement and micro-cracks around fibers are bridged and diverted by CNT stick–slip mechanism, namely, the SSCP retardation by CNTs. Mechanical measurements reveal improvements by 75% in bending stress, 46% in bending modulus, 75.24% fracture strain and 186.36% in toughness (delamination strength).http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264127525010147Carbon nanotubesStress-Strain curvesToughnessDelamination
spellingShingle Hsin-Jung Tsai
Yu-Sheng Lin
Ching-Hao Liu
Wen-Kuang Hsu
Experimental study of crack diversion, bridging mechanisms and enhanced delamination strength by dispersed carbon nanotubes in glass fibers composite laminates
Materials & Design
Carbon nanotubes
Stress-Strain curves
Toughness
Delamination
title Experimental study of crack diversion, bridging mechanisms and enhanced delamination strength by dispersed carbon nanotubes in glass fibers composite laminates
title_full Experimental study of crack diversion, bridging mechanisms and enhanced delamination strength by dispersed carbon nanotubes in glass fibers composite laminates
title_fullStr Experimental study of crack diversion, bridging mechanisms and enhanced delamination strength by dispersed carbon nanotubes in glass fibers composite laminates
title_full_unstemmed Experimental study of crack diversion, bridging mechanisms and enhanced delamination strength by dispersed carbon nanotubes in glass fibers composite laminates
title_short Experimental study of crack diversion, bridging mechanisms and enhanced delamination strength by dispersed carbon nanotubes in glass fibers composite laminates
title_sort experimental study of crack diversion bridging mechanisms and enhanced delamination strength by dispersed carbon nanotubes in glass fibers composite laminates
topic Carbon nanotubes
Stress-Strain curves
Toughness
Delamination
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264127525010147
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