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Mode I fracture toughness of glass fibre reinforced thermoplastic composites after UV and atmospheric plasma treatments

journal contribution
posted on 2023-09-13, 08:54 authored by G. Scarselli, D Quan, V. Prasad, P.S. Rao, M. Hardiman, I. Reid, Noel O'DowdNoel O'Dowd, N. Murphy, A. Ivankovic

In the present paper, the mode I fracture toughness properties of a thermoplastic composite resin reinforced with glass fibres are experimentally evaluated. The neat resin is initially characterized in terms of static and mode I fracture toughness properties. Then three sets of panels are manufactured and tested: reference panels made of untreated glass fibres and the thermoplastic resin; UV treated glass fibres reinforced thermoplastic panels and plasma treated glass fibres reinforced thermoplastic panels. The effect of the treatment on the interfacial adhesion strength between fibres and matrix is characterized by a push-out test. An overall increase of the interfacial strength leads to an overall decrease of the composite mode I fracture toughness evaluated by Double Cantilever Beam (DCB) tests. Optical and Scanning Electron Microscopy images of the fracture surfaces are acquired and used to obtain a better interpretation of the fracture mechanisms.


History

Publication

Composites Science and Technology, 2023, 236, 109982

Publisher

Elsevier

Other Funding information

The present research was funded by the Irish Government through ICOMP (Irish Composites Centre) under the following action: Project titled “Addition to CCM Bond 2019

Rights

This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Composites Science and Technology. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Composites Science and Technology, 2023, 236, 109982, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compscitech.2023.109982

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