High strain rate compression of epoxy based nanocomposites

This work aimed to investigate the strain-rate effect (0.001–3000 s−1) on compressive properties of the highly cross-linked epoxy and the epoxy sample filled with 10 wt% sol-gel-formed silica nanoparticles. As the strain rate increased, the compressive modulus and transition strength of both samples went up distinctly, the strain at break and ultimate strength decreased more or less, while the strain energy at fracture nearly did not change....