Fracture toughness improvement of epoxy resins with short carbon fibers

This study examined the thermal stability and fracture toughness of diglycidylether of bisphenol-A (DGEBA)/short carbon fiber (SCF) composites using several techniques. The thermal stability of the DGEBA/SCF composites was similar to that of neat epoxy resin. The fracture toughness of the composites was significantly improved relative to the neat resin. The SEM micrographs indicated that a relatively rough surface with shear deformation and tortuous cracks was formed, thereby preventing deformation and crack propagation and inducing higher fracture toughness in the DGEBA/SCF composites.