R-Curve Behavior of Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane (POSS)-Epoxy Nanocomposites

Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) is a suitable nanoscale reinforcement for thermosetting polymers, such as epoxy resin systems in order to modify its mechanical, thermal and chemical properties. The inclusion of POSS in the epoxy resin at higher loading (greater than 1 wt.%); however, it introduces the ductility during the fracture behavior of these nanocomposites. Consequently, the J-integral is used to quantify the fracture behavior of these materials and characterize the crack growth resistance curve against stable crack growth. A range of nanocomposites is prepared by adding 0.5, 1, 3, 5, and 8 wt.% of glycidyl POSS into DGEBF epoxy resin cured with an amine-based curing agent. From fracture toughness experiments, the load-displacement result confirms that when the POSS reinforcement is greater than 1 wt.%, the fracture behavior of the nanocomposite changes from brittle to ductile. For both brittle and ductile nanocomposites, the addition of POSS molecules improves the crack initiation toughness. The development of POSS-POSS compliant domains, reported previously, is responsible for this change in the failure behavior. The fractured images of POSS-epoxy nanocomposites, obtained by using scanning electron microscopy, show that the increase in fracture resistance at higher values of POSS loading occurs due to the extensive shear yielding. Meanwhile, the increased fracture toughness at lower values of POSS loading occurs due to crack pinning and crack deflection.