Fracture behaviour of fumed silica/epoxy nanocomposites

The paper shows the results of an experimental programme oriented to the manufacturing and characterisation of nanocomposites based on epoxy resin modified with fumed silica nanoparticles (0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 vol.%) with different surface treatments (unmodified, AMEO and GLYMO). The resulting degree of dispersion and the interfacial adhesion were investigated by TEM and SEM. Previous tensile and fracture toughness properties are discussed together with new results on the fatigue behaviour under mode I loading. The fracture toughness KIc turned out to be significantly increased and a positive trend towards the improvement in the crack propagation threshold under fatigue was observed.