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Fracture toughness of epoxy-based stepped functionally graded materials reinforced with carbon nanotubes

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Abstract

The aim of this work is to investigate the fracture characteristics of the epoxy-based stepped functionally graded materials (FGM) reinforced with carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The effects regarding fracture toughness in mode I were also studied. The specimens were fabricated with three different mass percentages of 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3%. An ultrasonic device was used to disperse the carbon nanotubes to have a uniform mixture without agglomeration of the CNT particles. Using the ASTM standard D-5045, the fracture toughness was obtained in the experiments. Some compact tension specimens were tested in a tensile machine in mode I. Two different notches were investigated to calculate the fracture toughness. For each notch, there were different fracture toughness and fracture forces values. The experiments showed that there is an improvement in the fracture resistance of FGMs and non-graded composite materials by increase in the CNTs content. The materials with the same content of carbon nanotubes do not have the same properties. It is seen that high fracture toughness can be obtained from different CNT content materials in each notch. In fact, the size of the notch affects the results. Comparing the fracture toughness values and fracture forces results showed that there is no specified rule to predict the increase in the fracture characteristics by increasing carbon nanotubes content. Fracture characteristics depend on the important parameters such as the size of the notch, CNTs content and dispersion of the carbon nanotubes.

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Acknowledgements

The samples were prepared at the Institute of Polymer Materials and Plastics Engineering, (Clausthal University of Technology, Germany) and the mechanical tests were done in Applied Mechanic Institute, (Clausthal University of Technology, Germany). We would like to express our special thanks to Prof. G. Ziegmann and Mr. D. Abliz in Institute of Polymer Materials and Plastics Engineering (Clausthal University of Technology, Germany), Dr. C. Sguazzo, Mr. Ch. Leistner, Mr. J. Koch in Applied Mechanic Institute (Clausthal University of Technology, Germany), Miss A. Shahriari in Department of Mechanical Engineering, Material Group (University of Tabriz, Iran), Mr. A. Sepehrafghan (Sharif Branch, ACECR, Iran) and all others who have helped to coordinate.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

    Sahar Moharrerzadeh Kurd & Soran Hassanifard

  2. Institute of Applied Mechanics, Clausthal University of Technology, Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany

    Stefan Hartmann

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  1. Sahar Moharrerzadeh Kurd
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  2. Soran Hassanifard
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  3. Stefan Hartmann
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Correspondence to Soran Hassanifard.

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Kurd, S.M., Hassanifard, S. & Hartmann, S. Fracture toughness of epoxy-based stepped functionally graded materials reinforced with carbon nanotubes. Iran Polym J 26, 253–260 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13726-017-0512-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13726-017-0512-6

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