The present study investigated the influence of different compatibilizer on the dispersion of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS). The effect of POSS dispersion in the epoxy resin in terms of mechanical, and thermal properties were reported. The three solvent used to disperse POSS in this work are ethanol, acetone, and toluene. The POSS was initially dispersed in the solvent followed by an addition in the epoxy resin by systematically varying the weight fraction from 0.5 to 8 wt%. Mechanical properties of nanocomposites were characterized in terms of elastic modulus, and fracture toughness. The obtained result illustrates that nanocomposites prepared by polar solvent dispersion such as ethanol showed an increase in values of elastic modulus and fracture toughness value. The increase in the modulus and fracture toughness value is due to the better interaction between POSS and ethanol disperse the POSS uniformly in the epoxy resin while avoiding the agglomeration. However, nanocomposites prepared by nonpolar solvent does not show substantial change in the mechanical properties. Fractured surface morphology was studied using scanning electron microscopy. Differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic mechanical analysis illustrates that with better POSS dispersion value of glass transition temperature (T g) increased. Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy showed that POSS completely interacted with the epoxy resin and no phase separation was observed.
The influence of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes–polyvinylpyrrolidone on the interlaminar fracture toughness of carbon fiber-reinforced composites (CFRPs) is investigated in this study. Baseline composite material is fabricated using novolac epoxy-infused carbon fiber prepreg. Glycidyl isobutyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (GI) is introduced in the CFRP at loading of 1, 3, 5, and 10 wt.% with respect to polyvinylpyrrolidone used as a compatibilizer. Results of the double cantilever beam test indicate an increase of 70% in interlaminar fracture toughness for 5 wt.% GI-POSS loading compared to the baseline composite. Scanning electron microscopy shows polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes enhanced the adhesion between fiber and the resin that leads to the fiber pull-out. Dynamic mechanical analysis result captures the reduction in the storage modulus with addition of polyvinylpyrrolidone due to the plasticization effect. Nonetheless, the introduction of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes increases the storage modulus for the GI/PVP composite. Additionally, an increase in the glass transition temperature with the reinforcement of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes is observed.
In this present study, the natural occurring switchgrass (SG) is used as a reinforcement in the epoxy resin. The obtained SG is cut into small sizes with dimension ranging between 2 and 5 cm and without any chemical treatment is directly reinforced in epoxy resin at different weight fractions, to prepare lightweight composites. The SG-epoxy composites show 50% and 28.5% increase in tensile modulus and strength respectively. These modified properties of SG-epoxy composites have the potential for further use as a structural composite.
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