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Handbook of Epoxy Blends pp 3–28Cite as

Introduction to Rubber Toughened Epoxy Polymers

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Abstract

Epoxy resins are a class of thermosetting polymers widely used for structural application. However, as epoxy resins are inherently brittle because of their highly cross-linked structure, a great effort has been made to improve the fracture toughness. A widely used method for this purpose is the addition of second-phase polymeric particles, and over the past decades, great success has been achieved in this area. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the development in rubber-toughened epoxy. First, we review the history of rubber-toughened epoxy and different kinds of rubbers used for toughening epoxy. Then, we summarize the factors affecting the toughening effect and mechanisms accounting for rubber-toughened epoxy. Finally, we discuss some new trends in this field.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Polymer Engineering and Science, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Mei-Long Road, P.O. Box 289, Shanghai, 200237, China

    Shi-Ai Xu

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Mei-Long Road, P.O. Box 289, Shanghai, 200237, China

    Xiao-Xue Song

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  1. Shi-Ai Xu
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Correspondence to Shi-Ai Xu .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Polymer Science and Rubber Technology, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi, India

    Jyotishkumar Parameswaranpillai

  2. Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia

    Nishar Hameed

  3. Leibniz-Institut für Polymerforschung Dresden e.V., Dresden, Germany

    Jürgen Pionteck

  4. Department of Chemical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, China

    Eamor M. Woo

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Xu, SA., Song, XX. (2017). Introduction to Rubber Toughened Epoxy Polymers. In: Parameswaranpillai, J., Hameed, N., Pionteck, J., Woo, E. (eds) Handbook of Epoxy Blends. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40043-3_1

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