Effect of nano-particles on the tensile, flexural and perforation properties of the glass/epoxy composites

Abstract

The objective of this study is to characterize the damage in glass fiber reinforced composite laminated reinforced with nanosilica particles subjected to tensile, flexural, and transverse loadings. Tensile, three-point bending, quasi-static indentation test, and ballistic impact tests were used in order to obtain the perforation response, flexural and tensile behavior of the composites and nanocomposites. Experimental test series was carried out to determine the tensile and flexural strength and stiffness, impact energy absorption, and failure mechanisms of composites in the presence of nanoparticle. Hand lay-up method has been used to manufacture nanocomposites constituted of 12 layers of 2D woven glass fibers with 40% fiber volume fraction. The composites were reinforced by adding organically modified nano-silica in a 0%, 0.5%, 1%, and 3% ratio in weight with respect to the matrix. Results revealed that in 0.5 wt.% nanoparticles, energy absorption and tensile strength are maximum, but flexural strength has the highest value in 3 wt.%. Furthermore, the highest energy absorption, elastic energy, and energy absorption at maximum force in quasi-static penetration occur in 0.5% nanosilica content. In the case of ballistic tests, effect of nanosilica is more tangible than in quasi-static indentation. Nanocomposite at 0.5% nanosilica recorded higher ballistic limit and energy absorption in comparison with other composites and nanocomposites. SEM images showed that fracture surfaces in 0.5 wt.% nanocomposites are rough and engender more crack tips in comparison with other specimens, which contributes to higher energy absorption in static and dynamic tests.

Assessments of Secondary Reinforcement of Epoxy Matrix-Glass Fibre Composite Laminates through Nanosilica (SiO2)

“…Likewise, flexural modulus recorded improvement in the order of 30.47%, 13.52% and 9.68% for the laminates TPB-L5, TPB-L4 and TPB-L2 respectively. The obtained results were in similar trend to the results reported by [21,37].…”

“…This increase in tensile strength was due to the homogenous dispersion of nano particles in matrix as evidenced by XRD studies and enhanced load transfer at the fiber matrix interface. However, decrease in tensile properties due to enhanced stiffness and matrix embrittlement in polymer composites reinforced with 1 and 3 wt% nanosilica (QST-L4 and QST-L5) as reported by [21,37]. It is understood that the melt viscosity of the matrix increased with higher loading of fillers (≥1 wt%) that correspondingly leads to matrix embrittlement, poor wetting of matrix on primary and secondary and poor load transfer between fiber and matrix.…”

Comparative study of the influence of graphene nanoplatelets filler on the mechanical and tribological behavior of glass fabric‐reinforced epoxy composites

“…[ 40 ] In the present study, GFRE/1%GNP composite showed a slight improvement in tensile strength due to higher elongation at failure as compared to GFRE/0.5%GNP composite. Afrouzian et al [ 41 ] studied the tensile behavior of GFRE composite, incorporated with nano‐silica. They showed that incorporation of 0.5 wt% nano‐silica exhibited the maximum enhancement in tensile strength as well as higher elongation at break (higher ductility) compared to other specimens.…”

Improvement of the Impact Properties of Composite Laminates by Means of Nano-Modification of the Matrix—A Review

“…For nano-particulate materials, such as nanosilica, debonding and subsequent plastic void growth were most likely to be responsible for the increase in fracture toughness [92]. The nanoparticles were also found to reduce the damage area and increase the absorbed energy resulting from low velocity impact [64,68,69,90,93,94] and ballistic impact [70,71,95], with more tangible effects in the ballistic impact compared with quasi-static loading [96]. A higher residual shear strength after impact resulted by the Nano particles modification [70], however, the ultimate laminate compression strength after impact was not necessarily improved [64,68], most probably due to agglomerates of nanoparticles found in the cured resin systems.…”