Abstract
The current study investigated the effect of adding a carbon nanotube-alumina (CNT-Al&sub2;O&sub3;) hybrid on the fracture toughness of epoxy nanocomposites. The CNT-Al&sub2;O&sub3; hybrid was synthesised by growing CNTs on Al&sub2;O&sub3; particles via the chemical vapour deposition method. The CNTs were strongly attached onto the Al&sub2;O&sub3; particles, which served to transport and disperse the CNTs homogenously, and to prevent agglomeration in the CNTs. The experimental results demonstrated that the CNT-Al&sub2;O&sub3; hybrid-filled epoxy nanocomposites showed improvement in terms of the fracture toughness, as indicated by an increase of up to 26% in the critical stress intensity factor, K1C, compared to neat epoxy.