Effect of hybrid carbon nanofillers at percolation on electrical and mechanical properties of glass fiber reinforced epoxy

Abstract

AbstractMulti walled carbon nanotubes and graphene nanoplatelets are novel fillers possessing exceptional intrinsic characteristics, such as high aspect ratio, strength, and good compatibility. These fillers are integrated into a glass fiber reinforced epoxy using a pultrusion process with a mixing ratio of 2:3 to attain the synergetic effect. The electrical and mechanical properties of the composites containing combinations of multi walled carbon nanotubes (0.4 wt%), graphene nanoplatelets (0.6 wt%) and micron aluminum trihydrate (2 wt%) fillers is studied. Significant improvement in electrical and mechanical properties is achieved. This study reveals that the incorporation of hybrid carbon nanofillers into epoxy leads to improved dielectric constant, AC conductivity and mechanical properties as compared with the base epoxy composite with glass reinforcement. The AC conductivity increases from 10−9 to 10−1 S/m and dielectric constant from 3.6 to 100 due to carbon fillers. The mean tensile strength improves from 433 MPa of the base epoxy composite to 508 MPa in carbon‐filled composite. The compressive strength improves from 630 to 681 MPa due to incorporation of carbon fillers signifying the improvement in load transfer effectiveness. The effect of carbon fillers on the flexural strength and hardness is minimal. The experimental data on mechanical parameters have been validated using theoretical modeling and a good correlation is established.