COMPOSITES SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING ›› 2026, Vol. 0 ›› Issue (5): 140-150.DOI: 10.19936/j.cnki.2096-8000.20260528.018

• REVIEW • Previous Articles    

Research progress on toughening modification of epoxy resin and its models

LIANG Hanxi1, LI Chuang1,2, YANG Shuai1, GAO Yiming1, XIONG Xuhai1*   

  1. 1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenyang Aerospace University, Shenyang 110136, China;
    2. Center for Civil Aviation Composites, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
  • Received:2025-04-21 Online:2026-05-28 Published:2026-07-01

Abstract: Epoxy resin has excellent comprehensive properties. As a matrix resin of composite materials, it is widely used in aerospace, national defense and military, wind power and nuclear energy, automobile and ship, transportation and other key fields. The high crosslinking density of epoxy resin not only brings high specific modulus and high specific strength, but also leads to large brittleness, poor impact resistance and low fatigue resistance of epoxy resin. These shortcomings seriously limit the further development and application of epoxy resin. Therefore, balancing the toughness and strength of epoxy resin has become a crucial issue to be solved urgently. In this paper, the research progress of toughening modification of epoxy resin at home and abroad in recent years is reviewed. The mechanism, advantages and existing problems of toughening epoxy resin by rubber, thermoplastic resins, nanoparticles, thermotropic liquid crystal polymers and hyperbranched polymers are expounded respectively. At the same time, it is pointed out that it is an effective research method to study the toughening mechanism by using micro-mechanical model and molecular dynamics model, which can deeply explore the relationship between micro-mechanical properties and macro-mechanical behavior of epoxy resin. Finally, the future development direction of epoxy resin toughening technology is prospected, and the future development goals and challenges of epoxy resin are pointed out.

Key words: epoxy resin, toughening mechanism, thermodynamic performance, micromechanics, molecular dynamics

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