Influence on fracture toughness arising from controlled morphology of multiphase toughened epoxy resins in the presence of fibre reinforcement

Numerous studies found in the literature focus on enhancing the fracture toughness of thermosetting polymers by incorporating various toughening agents. The resulting gains in fracture toughness are mostly attributed to an expansion in the volume of the plastic deformation zone ahead of the propagating crack and the modified resin blends are subsequently introduced as matrices for fibre reinforced composite materials. It is often assumed that...