Experimental investigation of mechanical and machining parameters of hybrid nanoclay glass fiber-reinforced polyester composites

Abstract

In this work, the effect of nanoclay addition to glass fiber-reinforced polyester composites is studied. The pristine glass fiber-reinforced polyester composites (i.e., staking sequence, kind of fabric used, etc.) and hybrid nanoclay in varying weight fraction (0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 wt%) and glass fiber-reinforced polyester composite is prepared by vacuum-assisted resin infusion technique. Fracture toughness studies are done to analyze the critical stress intensity factor and critical strain energy release rate. The optimum mechanical properties are obtained for hybrid nanoclay glass fiber-reinforced polyester composites with clay content of 3 wt%. This paper also deals with the study of optimizing the cutting parameters (Cutting speed and feed rate) to obtain maximum mechanical properties in hybrid nanoclay glass fiber-reinforced polyester composites during drilling process. It has been found that the torque is unaffected with increase in cutting speed. On contrast with increase in feed and nanoclay weight fraction, the torque increases. The drilled samples are further subjected to mechanical testing. Tensile studies confirms that better mechanical properties are obtained for optimum machining parameter of (0.045 mm/rev, 210 rpm) for 3 wt% nanoclay and glass fiber-reinforced polyester nanocomposites. The hybrid clay and glass fiber-reinforced nanocomposites generally posses better mechanical properties compared with pristine glass fiber-reinforced polyester composites.