Performance of Mechanical Joints Prepared from Carbon-Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Nanocomposites under Accelerated Environm
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JMEPEG https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-020-05216-8
Performance of Mechanical Joints Prepared from Carbon-Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Nanocomposites under Accelerated Environmental Aging Mohit Kumar, J.S. Saini, and H. Bhunia Submitted: 20 May 2020 / Revised: 23 August 2020 / Accepted: 24 September 2020 The influence of environmental aging on the durability of the civil structural components made of fiber/ epoxy composites is a big concern for many industries nowadays. For that reason, accelerated environmental aging was performed on the bolted joints prepared from carbon/epoxy composites. The bolted joints were designed using ASTM D 5961 having an edge to diameter ratio and width to diameter ratio as 5 and 6, respectively. The cyclic exposure of ultraviolet radiation for 8 h at 60 °C and condensation for 4 h at 50 °C was used under accelerated environmental aging conditions according to ASTM G154 standard for 0, 250, 500, 750 and 1000 h. It was found that at shorter durations, the positive effect occurred with increased strength, whereas the strength decreased for longer durations. The failure loads were found for neat and multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) added composite bolted joints for unaged and aged conditions at varying bolt preloads. The MWCNT added composites shows better results than neat composites. It was also observed that bolt preloads improved the load-bearing capacity for MWCNT added composite joints even after 1000 h of accelerated aging. Keywords
bolt preloads, carbon fiber, carbon nanotubes, failure loads, humidity, mechanical joints, ultraviolet radiations
1. Introduction From the last decade, fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites have become popular among various industries like automobile, aerospace, civil, marine, etc. (Ref 1-4). The problem of fuel efficiency and corrosion due to the use of heavy metallic structures is the major concern for the industries which have given the advantage of using the lightweight FRP composite structures. Owing to high strength and stiffness to weight ratio, FRP composites are broadly chosen by the industries (Ref 5-7). Moreover, FRP composites have good dimensional stability and exhibit high resistance to corrosion (Ref 8). Despite these inherent advantages in various industries, these materials have issues regarding long term durability especially related to the degradation of their properties under changing environmental conditions. As a result, numerous researchers have been working on the performance of FRP composites when exposed to different environmental conditions, i.e., ultraviolet (UV) radiations, humidity, temperature, moisture, rainwater, etc (Ref 9-11). The performance of FRPs deteriorates in such changing environments. The combined
Mohit Kumar and J.S. Saini, Mechanical Engineering Department, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, Punjab 147004, India; and H. Bhunia, Chemical Engineering Department, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, Punjab 147004, India. Contact e-mail: [email protected].
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