Effect of weight of Nanoclay on Tensile, Flexure and Toughness properties of Glass Epoxy composites

Abstract

In recent times, polymer composites have played an epochal role in transforming material science. Some of their properties such as toughness, strength, flexibility, and rigidity have helped them supplant conventional materials such as iron, steel, and aluminium on several occasions. Apart from this, they are light in weight and more cost-efficient, which make them a viable alternative. They have found their application in several fields such as automobile industry, aerospace industry, construction, and pipeline industry. The present investigation uses composite material fabricated with varying weight percentages of Nano clay viz 1.5, 3.5, and 5 which are compared with Neat Glass Epoxy composite. The reinforcement material used is Glass fibre. Three different orientations viz unidirectional, Symmetric and Asymmetric of the laminate are considered. The fabricated composite is characterized for various mechanical properties like tensile test, flexure, and Fracture toughness testing as per ASTM standards. The addition of Nano Clay showed the improvement in the Tensile, Flexure and Fracture Toughness of the for 3.5 wt% of Nanoclay. The properties under tensile loading i.e. the tensile strength is increased by 12% for Unidirectional laminate, flexure strength increased by 20% for Unidirectional laminate and 20% for Unidirectional laminate fracture Toughness.after 3.5 wt%, there seemed to be a decline in both the properties. The morphological assessment was done by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) where the microstructure was analyzed. The SEM images were used to study the activity of the Nanoclay within the fabricated composite. The overall test results suggested that the fiber reinforced nanoclay composites can fit for industrial applications like condenser blades and turbine blades.