No abstract

Recently, the study of hybrid nanocomposites has attracted much attention because they are highly expected for being used in many applications. In this context, there is an insisting need to investigate the effect of incorporation of silica and carbon particulates nanofillers into epoxy reinforced with woven and nonwoven tissue glass fiber. The influence of incorporation of silica (SiO2) and carbon black nanoparticles (C) with different weight fractions on the tensile properties, impact strength and fatigue performance of epoxy matrix reinforced with two types of E-glass fiber was investigated. The results showed an improvement in tensile properties, impact strength and fatigue life with addition of almost all nanoparticles contents considerably with respect to that of the neat glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites (NGFRE). Hybrid composites filled with 0.5 wt.% C exhibited the highest tensile strength and fatigue performance with an enhancement of 19% and 60% compared to NGFRE, respectively. An increase of 57% and 28% in tensile modulus and impact strength over NGFRE was obtained respectively with hybrid composites filled with 1 wt.% C. Adding 0.25 wt.% SiO2 and 0.25 wt.% C simultaneously showed an improvement in mechanical properties. SEM images of tensile and impact fracture surfaces are presented for CS 0.5 specimens which in turn reveal weak fiber/matrix interface.

No abstract

In this article, the effects of using nanometer and micrometer-sized aluminum particles in glass fiber reinforcement epoxy composites have been studied. The study evaluates the mechanical properties improvement with the addition of nanometer and micrometer-sized aluminum particles to glass fiber reinforcement epoxy composites. The combination of aluminum and woven glass fibers provide high potential for the modification of the epoxy matrix. The composites were produced by hand lay-up technique. The glass fiber volume fraction was kept constant at 35%, while the contents of aluminum particles were increased from 0.2 to 4 wt%. The developed composites showed enhanced tensile, flexural, hardness, wear, and impact behavior as compared to glass fiber reinforcement epoxy. An enhancement of 27% was attained in tensile strength with glass fiber reinforcement epoxy filled with 2 wt% aluminum nanoparticles; however, adding 4 wt% nanometer-sized aluminum particles showed an improvement of 114%, 116%, 21%, 52.2%, 21.4%, 76.6% in tensile elongation, toughness, tensile modulus, flexural strength, flexural strain, flexural modulus, respectively as compared to neat glass fiber reinforcement epoxy. Increasing the nanometer-sized aluminum particles in glass fiber reinforcement epoxy composites to 4 wt% reversed the improvement trend in tensile strengths, wear, and hardness. However, increasing the micrometer-sized aluminum particles to 4 wt% has shown fair improvement in all used aluminum loadings. Microscopy results showed that the aluminum particles were well dispersed in the epoxy matrix. However, a higher weight fraction of nano-aluminum in the epoxy had promoted little agglomerations.

No abstract