Effects of fabrics reinforced on mechanical properties of epoxy epikote 828

Abstract

The curing agent content plays an important role in the synthesis of polymer composites, as it determines the quality and durability of these materials. Cyanethyl‐diethylenetriamine (CEDETA) was used as the curing agent for epoxy epikote 828. The effect of CEDETA content on the gel content and fracture toughness (K_IC) of epoxy resin, as well as the effect of reinforcing fabric on the mechanical properties of composite materials was studied. The results showed that a CEDETA curing agent content of 26 parts per hundred resin (phr) gave the highest values of 88.2% gel content and 2.95 MPa.m^1/2 fracture toughness. The tensile and flexural strengths of carbon/epoxy fabric composites (CF/EP) were significantly higher than those of glass/epoxy fabric composites (GF/EP). However, the izod impact strength and the mode‐I interlaminar fracture toughness of CF/EP composites were lower than those of GF/EP composites. The damaged surfaces of the composites were observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM).