Recently, a major technological breakthrough has been made in the field of aerospace materials, with significant progress in low-temperature resistant and high-toughness epoxy resin modification technology. This technology successfully solves the core problems of epoxy resin such as brittleness and interface debonding in extreme low-temperature environments, providing high-performance material support for key fields including aerospace, deep-sea exploration, and polar engineering. As the core matrix resin of composite materials, epoxy resin has long been used in key components of aerospace launch vehicles and deep-sea equipment due to its excellent mechanical strength and processability. However, in extreme low-temperature environments such as -196℃, the movement of its molecular segments is restricted, and its coefficient of thermal expansion is mismatched with reinforcing fibers, which easily leads to material failure. The research team has achieved breakthroughs through two major technical paths: heterogeneous toughening and homogeneous toughening. Heterogeneous toughening introduces a second phase such as rubber particles, thermoplastic polymers, and nanoparticles. The polysiloxane core-shell particle modified system developed by the University of Bayreuth in Germany significantly improves the fracture toughness of the material at 77K. Homogeneous toughening constructs a flexible cross-linked network through chemical modification. The team led by Professor Fu Shaoyun from Chongqing University has greatly improved the low-temperature mechanical properties of epoxy resin by means of polyethersulfone modification. This technology achieves a balance between low-temperature toughness and high-temperature modulus. Some modified systems have increased tensile strength and fracture toughness by more than 30% at 77K compared with traditional materials. With the improvement of the technology, it will help the equipment upgrading in China's near-Earth space exploration, deep-sea engineering and other fields, and promote the localization process of materials for extreme environments.
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