Investigation of the flexural and thermomechanical properties of nanoclay/graphene reinforced carbon fiber epoxy composi
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Investigation of the flexural and thermomechanical properties of nanoclay/graphene reinforced carbon fiber epoxy composites Md Sarower Tareq1, S. Zainuddin1,a), E. Woodside1, F. Syed1 1
Center for Advanced Materials, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, Alabama 36088, USA Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: [email protected]
a)
Received: 7 May 2019; accepted: 18 September 2019
Flexural and thermomechanical properties of the epoxy-based carbon fiber composites (CFCs) on addition of single and binary nanoparticles (nanoclay and graphene) have been investigated. It was found that nanoclay acts more effectively in increasing the stiffness of the CFCs, whereas graphene is more effective in achieving higher strength. Nanoclay-added samples exhibited highest flexural (64.5 GPa) and storage (25.3 GPa) modulus among all types. Graphene-added samples showed highest improvement (by 21%) in flexural strength and exhibited most stable thermomechanical properties with highest energy dissipation capability (3.1 GPa loss modulus) in flexural test and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), respectively. By contrast, addition of binary nanoparticles reduced the stiffness and significantly increased the strain to failure (42%) of the composites. Optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy indicated that addition of nanoparticles significantly reduced delamination and matrix cracking of the CFCs because of strong interfacial bonding and toughened matrix, respectively.
Introduction Fiber-reinforced polymer composites (FRPCs) are used in aerospace, automotive, and sports industries because of their high specific strength and stiffness, combined with design flexibility and light weight [1, 2]. Among various reinforcing fibers, carbon fibers (CFs) are extensively attractive in these industries because of their superior specific strength and stiffness, low density and reasonable cost [3, 4]. However, the behavior of FRPCs are highly dependent and controlled by the properties of their constituent parts [5]. Also, the performance of FRPCs under different loading conditions (i.e., axial, transverse, impact, and torsional) and thermal stability at elevated temperatures are very critical for reliable applications. Among these FRPCs, the use of carbon fiber composites (CFCs) is further limited because of factors such as low transverse loadbearing capacity, poor resistance to crack propagation, and delamination [6, 7]. In recent years, researchers have used various methods to enhance these mechanical and thermal properties of CFCs. Among them, addition of nanoparticles has
ª Materials Research Society 2019
been proven to be the most promising method to tailor the overall mechanical and thermal performance of CFCs [8, 9, 10]. Addition of functionalized nanoparticles in CFCs has been reported to significantly increase the fiber–matrix interfacial bonding [11, 12, 13]. FRPCs without any nano-reinforcement show mechanical performance only in one direction (in the direction of fiber), and that in the transverse direction are weaker because of
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