Anisotropic response of bidirectionally ice‐templated alumina/epoxy composites

Abstract This work investigates the anisotropic response of nacre‐like lamellar alumina/epoxy composites at low and high strain rates. Ice‐templated alumina with long‐range aligned porous lamellar structures is fabricated at 20 vol% of ceramic part using bidirectional freeze casting method. The obtained porous structures are infiltrated with epoxy to fabricate lamellar alumina/epoxy composites. The compressive tests are performed on scaffolds and composites at different orientations relative to the freezing direction. The testing results reveal that infiltration has increased the uniaxial compressive strength of the scaffold substantially. The compressive properties are higher when loaded along the freezing direction, and it decreases when it is loaded away from the freezing direction. The strength of the composites exhibited a strong dependency on the loading direction and strain rates.