Benefits of toughening a vinyl ester resin matrix on structural materials

A commonplace vinyl ester resin blended with a core-shell polymer additive has been used as a matrix for some typical structural commercial materials to determine the benefits of increased matrix toughness. In a simulation of polymer concrete, the tougher matrix was found to increase the toughness o f the concrete by a small amount. Unexpectedly the flexural strength was in creased by 30% which has been ascribed to the greater damage tolerance of t he matrix. In composites with fibre glass cloth, the interlaminar toughness is also improved. An application of extreme value statistics showed that t he change in resin toughness due to blending was fully transferred to the c omposite, and also allowed an estimation of the effect of the reinforcement on toughness. (C) 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers.