Effect of silanised reinforcements on thermal, wear, visco-elastic and fatigue behaviour of stitched E-glass fibre-reinforced epoxy hybrid composite

Abstract

Carboxyl-terminated butadiene acrylonitrile liquid rubber toughened silicon carbide and stitched E-glass fibre-reinforced epoxy composite has been fabricated and tested for their relative effect on thermal, wear, visco-elastic and fatigue behaviour. The main objective of this present work is to explicate the importance of rubber toughening on high brittle polymer matrix and the need for secondary strengthening to improve properties. The reinforcements were surface-treated using an amine-functional coupling agent for better adhesion and uniform dispersion on matrix. The composites were made using hand layup method and post cured at 120 °C. The addition of micro rubber into epoxy resin improved the fatigue and visco-elastic properties with a marginal decrement in thermal stability and wear resistance behaviour whereas the addition of silicon carbide significantly improved the properties. A highest fatigue life cycle of 12,941 and storage modulus of 7.8 GPa was observed for composite contains 1 and 10 vol% of silicon carbide and micro rubber, respectively. The initial thermal stability of composite, which contains 2 and 10 vol% of reinforcement measures 348 °C and the lowest coefficient of friction of 0.36 and specific wear rate of 0.028 mm3/Nm. The Scanning electron microscope images illustrate uniform dispersion and improved adhesion of silane surface-modified reinforcements in epoxy matrix. These high toughness polymer composites could be used in high load-bearing engineering applications wherever possible.