The effects of the addition of an aromatic hyperbranched polyester (AHBP) on thermal, mechanical, and fracture toughness properties of a thermosetting resin system were investigated. AHBP filler, synthesized by using a bulk poly-condensation reaction, reveals a glassy state at room temperature. Indeed, according to differential scanning calorimetry measurements, the glass transition temperature (Tg) of AHBP is 95 °C. Three different adduct weight percentages were employed to manufacture the AHBP/epoxy samples, respectively, 0.1, 1, and 5 wt%. Dynamical Mechanical Analysis tests revealed that the addition of AHBP induces a negligible variation in terms of conservative modulus, whereas a slight Tg reduction of about 4 °C was observed at 5 wt% of filler content. Fracture toughness results showed an improvement of both critical stress intensity factor (+18%) and critical strain energy release rate (+83%) by adding 5 wt% of AHBP compared to the neat epoxy matrix. Static and dynamic compression tests covering strain rates ranging from 0.0008 to 1000 s-1 revealed a pronounced strain rate sensitivity for all AHBP/epoxy systems. The AHBP composites all showed an increase of the true peak yield compressive strength with the best improvement associated with the sample with 0.1 wt% of AHBP.
Keywords: fracture toughness; high-strain rate mechanical properties; hyperbranched polymers (HBPs); polymer-matrix composites (PMCs); thermosetting resin.