Viscoelastic and mechanical behavior of the thermoset composite interleaved with electrospun polybutadiene

This work aims the processing of multifunctional thermoset composites, consisting of carbon fibers/epoxy resin prepreg, and polybutadiene (BR) mats produced via electrospinning process aiming to provide a composite material with high tenacity. Initially, polybutadiene mats were produced by electrospinning. These mats and prepregs materials were hot compressed at eight different configurations to produce the composites. The quality of the manufactured composites was evaluated by acid digestion, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), acoustic ultrasound inspection, impulse excitation, and impact resistance tests. The composites with six layers of electrospun BR showed higher storage modulus value (DMA test), and no significant change was observed in its energy absorption values of impact resistance test. However, it was possible to verify that the presence of the BR mats in the composites hindered the propagation of damage in the material.