Fracture Mechanisms of Layer-By-Layer Polyurethane/Poly(Acrylic Acid) Nanocomposite.

Abstract

A Layer-by-Layer (LBL) (layer-by-layer) manufactured material is examined in detail in this thesis. Improvements are made to the method of its manufacture. Efforts are made to understand its fracture mechanisms and take advantage of these fracture mechanisms in the absorption of impact energy. A novel series of experiments has been performed on LBL manufactured thin films to demonstrate their unique fracture mechanisms. Polyurethane/Poly(Acrylic Acid) (PU/PAA) and PU/PAA/(PU/Clay)5 nanocomposite films readily undergo Interlaminar mode II fracture, because of the relatively weak elctrostatic bonds between monolayers. Tensile tests performed while under observation by a scanning electron microscope demonstrate the tendency of these nanocomposite films to undergo interlaminar mode II fracture even when loads are applied in the plane of nanocomposite film. It is concluded that these mechanisms of energy dissipation are responsible for the enhanced toughness of these films when used as layers between glass blocks in the prevention of impact damage to the glass. A novel automated manufacturing facility has been designed and built to deposit large sheets of Layer-by-Layer nanocomposite film. These large sheets are incorporated into a borosillicate glass composite in order to compare the ballistic characteristics of LBL PU based nanocomposite films to a single cast layer of polyurethane. It is demonstrated that shear fracture is the mode of failure in the blocks containing the nanocomposite film. The shear fracture surface in the nanocomposite after it has undergone a ballistic impact is characterized. Additional experiments are performed to characterize the interlaminar fracture stresses and toughnesses of the nanocomposite LBL layers, to assist in the implementation of a numerical crack band model that describes the nanocomposite film. The computational model predicts the failure of the ballistic nanocomposite samples, and the predicted V50 velocity is found to be in good agreement with experimental results.