ABSTRACT
The desire to toughen thermoset polymeric glasses, polyesters, and epoxies arose from a practical need: when reinforced with a woven fiberglass fabric and tested under tension, such laminates displayed a break or knee in the stress-strain curve, a point where the modulus decreased significantly. Adhesives technology was the first principal target of rubber toughening that benefited immediately and substantially. Another, later one, has been high-performance aircraft laminates, usually composed of continuous carbon fibers in highly crosslinked epoxy resins. One of the most persistent and productive researchers of rubber-toughened epoxies has been A. J. Kinloch, who did follow the lead provided by D. L. Hunston’s work. The technology of rubber-toughened epoxies has received much attention and development from a number of people. Commercial adhesives, sealants, and laminating resin systems using the idea now are widely available. It has been extrapolated to use tough, temperature-resistant thermoplastics, both as separate phase particles and as co-continuous networks in more highly crosslinked epoxies.
