28th Congress of the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, 23 - 28 September 2012, Brisbane, Australia
Paper ICAS 2012-7.6.2

DELAMINATION TOUGHENING OF CARBON-EPOXY LAMINATE WITH A POLYETHYLENE-CO-METHACRYLIC ACID (EMAA) SELF-HEALING MODIFIER

K. Pingkarawat, A. P. Mouritz, C. H. Wang, R. V. Varley*
RMIT Univ., Australia; *CSIRO Materials Science & Engineering, Australia

Keywords: poly(ethylene-co-methacrylic acid, polymers, self-healing, polymer matrix composites (pmcs), fracture toughness

Self-healing carbon fibre/epoxy laminate using a thermoplastic healing agent (EMAA) is experimentally investigated. The efficacy of the healing agent to perform multiple repairs of delamination cracks is determined. It is shown that the healing agent promotes high interlaminar toughening which is retained following multiple self-healing cycles of delamination cracks.

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