Ordered Filler Architectures in Composites

Reinforcing particles in polymer-based composites are typically arranged in random order.  Our laboratory has made colloidal crystal composites that exhibit enhanced toughness over their disordered counterparts.  Efforts to discern which mechanism is responsible for toughening in ordered materials are underway.

Figure 1.SEM micrograph (fracture surface) of a cured wet colloidal crystal (60 wt% MPS-silica in TEGDMA), scale bar 1 micron.  The inset shows the fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of the image.

Figure 2. SEM micrograph (fracture surface) of a cured sample of synthetic opal featuring the (100) plane of the fcc ordered sample, scale bar 2 microns.

Figure 3. SEM micrograph (fracture surface) of a cured sample of synthetic opal featuring the (111) plane of the fcc ordered sample, scale bar 5 microns.