Influence of Milled Glass Fiber Fillers on Mode I & Mode II Interlaminar Fracture Toughness of Epoxy Resin for Fabrication of Glass/Epoxy Composites

Abstract

The present work is focused on improving mode I and mode II delamination resistance of glass/epoxy composite laminates (50 wt.% of glass fibers) with milled glass fibers, added in various amounts (2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10% of the epoxy weight). Including fillers in the interlayer enhances the delamination resistance by providing a bridging effect, therefore demanding additional energy to initiate the crack in the interlaminar domain, which results in turn in enhanced fracture toughness. The maximal increase of mode I and mode II fracture toughness and of flexural strength was obtained by the addition of 5% milled glass fiber. The mechanism observed suggests that crack propagation is stabilized even leading to its arrest/deflection, as a considerable amount of milled glass fiber filler was oriented transverse to the crack path. In contrast, at higher filler loading, tendency towards stress concentration grows due to local agglomeration and improper dispersion of excess fillers in inter/intralaminar resin channel, causing poor adhesion to the matrix, which leads to reduction in fracture toughness, strength and strain to failure. Fractured surfaces analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed a number of mechanisms, such as crack deflection, individual debonding and filler/matrix interlocking, all contributing in various ways to improve fracture toughness.

Glass Powder Additive on Recycled Polypropylene Filaments: A Sustainable Material in 3D Printing

“…However, as the glass powder content increase, the surface color of the filament gets faded, and the texture becomes rough. Previous studies have reported similar effects of glass powder dispersion on the filament surface [31][32][33]. As the melting temperature of glass powder is higher than rPP, the glass powder mixture does not blend perfectly when the melt blending process with rPP results in a rough filament surface [17,27].…”

“…The new peak at sample rPP + 10% describes the typical spectrum possessed by sodium silicate, which is the constituent of GP material, and it is concluded that the addition of glass powder material to rPP material has been successfully carried out. The addition of glass powder material did not cause a shift in the typical polypropylene peak, but gave rise to a new characteristic peak [ 32 , 39 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ].…”

Synergistic effect of ultrasonically assisted exfoliated MWCNTs by ZrO2 nanoparticles on thermo-mechanical and anti-corrosive properties of epoxy nanocomposites

“…The sharp peak at 1508 cm −1 and 1605 cm −1 corresponds to the C–C and C=C of aromatic rings. 33,34 The prominent peak in MWCNT/ZrO 2 hybrid nanofiller spectra at 474 cm −1 corresponds to the C–H bending vibration. The weak peaks at 1710 cm −1 and 2353 cm −1 in the MWCNT/ZrO 2 hybrid nanofiller spectrum are attributed to the C=O stretching vibration and bending modes of the –OH group, respectively, originating during synthesis of the sample.…”

“…The sharp peak at 1508 cm À1 and 1605 cm À1 corresponds to the C-C and C=C of aromatic rings. 33,34 The prominent peak in MWCNT/ZrO…”

Performance Analysis of Reinforced Epoxy Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes Composites for Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Blade

“…Many factors can cause delamination, e.g., air traps, inadequate resin infusion, or production faults. Delamination lessens the compression strength of wind turbine blades and can induce local buckling in laminated structures [ 30 , 31 , 32 ]. Laminated composites containing delamination can buckle at low compression load levels depending upon the shape and size of delamination.…”