Fatigue Fracture Characteristics of Toughened Epoxy Adhesive Under Mode I Loading - Effects of Glass Beads and CNBR Rubber Modification

The effects of inclusion of glass beads and rubber modification on the fatigue fracture characteristics of an epoxy adhesive were investigated. Hybrid effects were also investigated when not only the epoxy adhesive was rubber modified but also when glass beads were mixed simultaneously.

Fatigue crack growth resistance was greatly increased due to glass beads, CTBN and CNBR modifications at the second stage of crack growth (da/dN=10^-4-10^-3 mm/cycle). However, the energy release rate at threshold for both CNBR and CTBN modified adhesives were lower than that for the unmodified adhesive. No significant hybrid effects were distinguishable.