Synergetic reinforcements of epoxy composites with glass fibers and hyperbranched polymers

Glass fibers (GFs) and hyperbranched polymers with amino terminal groups (HBPA) were introduced into epoxy/polyamide system to fabricate high‐performance composites. The impact resistance and mechanical characterization of epoxy/HBPA/GFs composites was performed to investigate the effect of GFs in the composites. The composites revealed noticeable improvement in tensile strength, elongation at break, flexural strength as well as impact resistance in comparison with the unmodified and HBPA modified epoxy/polyamide thermosets. FESEM morphologies showed that the toughening mechanisms could be attributed to the yielding deformation, phase separation and micro‐crack toughening mechanisms. POLYM. COMPOS., 39:2871–2879, 2018. © 2017 Society of Plastics Engineers