Deformation and fracture behavior of vinylester/fly ash composites

ARIEL STOCCHI; EXEQUIEL RODRIGUEZ,; ANALIA VAZQUEZ; CELINA BERNAL,

San Sebastián, España

Conferencia; V International Conference on Science and Technology of Composite Materials 09, COMATCOMP2009; 2009

COMAT- Asociación de Materiales Compuestos de España

In the present work, the deformation and fracture behaviour of a commercial vinylester resin reinforced with fly ash was investigated. Uniaxial compression tests and fracture tests on SENB specimens were performed on composites with different ash content. Composites fracture surfaces were analysed by SEM and the toughening mechanisms were identified. Under uniaxial compression, all materials exhibited ductile behaviour and the composites were stiffer than the vinylester matrix. In fracture tests, the composites behaved brittlely with improved fracture properties in comparison to the matrix. Different toughening mechanisms such as crack bowing, crack deflection and debonding of ash particles from the matrix followed by plastic void growth were found to be operative in these composites.