A study on the toughening of polyamide-6 (PA-6) with a new elastomeric modifier, brominated poly(isobutylene-co-p-methylstyrene) (BrXP-50), was conducted. Morphological analyses and mechanical tests were combined to evaluate the toughening mechanisms of modified PA-6 and the fracture mechanism of unmodified PA-6. We conclude that the fracture mechanism of unmodified PA-6 in the impact test is c...

Ceramics have superior hardness, strength and corrosion resistance, but are also associated with poor toughness. Here, we propose the boron nitride nanoplatelet (BNNP) as a novel toughening reinforcement component to ceramics with outstanding mechanical properties and high-temperature stability. We used a planetary ball-milling process to exfoliate BNNPs in a scalable manner and functionalizes ...

Improvements to toughening mechanisms in composite materials have hitherto relied on visual inspection techniques that can be rather limited, especially since the inherent damage behaviour is three-dimensional (3D) requiring high resolution to capture micro-cracks and similar damage. To achieve a better understanding of impact damage behaviour, synchrotron radiation computed laminography (SRCL)...

While toughening and damage might seem to be two contradictory concepts for the mechanics of crack growth, they are actually the same phenomena perceived from two different vantage points. Similarly, the concepts of extrinsic and intrinsic toughening, defined in terms of whether a toughening mechanism occurs behind or ahead of a crack, depend on the definition of a crack tip that, in the absenc...

Highly mineralized natural materials such as teeth or mollusk shells boast unusual combinations of stiffness, strength and toughness currently unmatched by engineering materials. While high mineral contents provide stiffness and hardness, these materials also contain weaker interfaces with intricate architectures, which can channel propagating cracks into toughening configurations. Here we repo...