Epoxy-based polymer composites are used in the aerospace industry due to high strength, less shrinkage, and ready availability. However, they are brittle and this limitation is usually addressed by using additives. Soft additives typically increase the toughness at the cost of stiffness and are usually not preferred for high strength applications. On the contrary, rigid additives such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and nanoclay increase the stiffness and tensile strength, but at the expense of strain at failure, indicating embrittlement. Also, these additives are expensive and this adds up to the overall product cost, limiting its application. Thus, this study aims to introduce a new low-cost, high aspect ratio additive that toughens epoxy without compromising on its strength. Tensile test and impact test were conducted to procure mechanical properties for the composite, along with fractography using electron microscopy. These tests revealed that this new additive increased the tensile strength, impact strength, and strain at failure by 56%, 60%, and 200% for a very low weight fraction of 0.5% of the additive.

中文翻译：

---

高纵横比片状铝对环氧基颗粒复合材料力学性能的影响

环氧树脂基聚合物复合材料由于强度高、收缩率低且易于使用而被用于航空航天工业。然而，它们很脆，这个限制通常通过使用添加剂来解决。软添加剂通常以牺牲刚度为代价来增加韧性，并且通常不适合高强度应用。相反，碳纳米管 (CNT) 和纳米粘土等刚性添加剂会增加刚度和拉伸强度，但以破坏时的应变为代价，表明出现脆化。此外，这些添加剂价格昂贵，这增加了总产品成本，限制了其应用。因此，本研究旨在引入一种新的低成本、高纵横比添加剂，可以在不影响环氧树脂强度的情况下增韧环氧树脂。进行拉伸试验和冲击试验以获得复合材料的机械性能，以及使用电子显微镜的断口分析。这些测试表明，对于 0.5% 的极低重量分数，这种新添加剂将拉伸强度、冲击强度和失效应变提高了 56%、60% 和 200%。