Interleaving a laminated composite with thermoplastic particles is known as an effective method to improve the interlaminar fracture toughness. In this work, to provide useful insight into what particle characteristics are the most critical to the toughening effect, the interlaminar fracture behaviours of carbon fibre/epoxy composites interleaved with different types of nylon 6 and 12 particles were investigated in the same range of particle areal weights.

The results showed the particle size affects the toughness only when the particle-matrix interfacial bonding is well established, which is related to the curing temperature relative to the melting temperature of the particle. High interfacial bonding strength allowed the particles to be plastically deformed while bridging the crack, and smaller particles were more effective due to the increased density of particle bridging. It was also found that both the particle size and shape affect thickening of the interlayer, which can cause a knockdown of in-plane laminate properties due to the reduced fibre volume fraction.

层压的复合材料与热塑性颗粒的交织是提高层间断裂韧性的有效方法。在这项工作中，为了提供有用的见识，以了解哪些颗粒特性对增韧效果最关键，在相同的颗粒面积范围内研究了不同类型的尼龙6和12颗粒交织的碳纤维/环氧树脂复合材料的层间断裂行为重量。

结果表明，只有在良好建立颗粒-基质界面键合后，粒径才会影响韧性，这与固化温度相对于颗粒的熔融温度有关。高的界面粘结强度使颗粒在桥接裂纹的同时发生塑性变形，而较小的颗粒由于颗粒桥接密度的增加而更有效。还发现粒度和形状都影响中间层的增厚，由于减小的纤维体积分数，这可引起面内层压材料特性的降低。