We present the results of an effective reinforcement of epoxy resin matrix with fullerene carbon soot. The optimal carbon soot addition of 1 wt. % results in a toughness improvement of almost 20 times. The optimized soot-epoxy composites also show an increase in tensile elongation of more than 13 %, thus indicating a change of the failure mechanism in tension from brittle to ductile. Additionally, the coefficient of friction is reduced from its 0.91 value in plain epoxy resin to 0.15 in the optimized composite. In the optimized composite, the lateral forces during nanoscratching decrease as much as 80 % with enhancement of the elastic modulus and hardness by 43 % and 94%, respectively. The optimized epoxy resin fullerene soot composite can be a strong candidate for coating applications where toughness, low friction, ductility and light weight are important.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.