Hardness and impact testing of glass epoxy nanoclay composites

Abstract

There is always a demand for polymer materials which will continue, and many industries are catering for the demand. Nanoclay when added to the Glass Fiber reinforced Epoxy composite, its effect is investigated on the Mechanical properties like Impact and Hardness of the composite which is prepared using hand lay-up technique. The investigation uses the addition of Nanoclay at varied weight percentages viz 1.5, 3.5, and 5 which are compared with Neat Glass Epoxy composite. Three different orientations of composite viz, Unidirectional, Symmetric and Quasi isotropic are prepared at varied levels of weight percentages of Nanoclay. The addition of Nano Clay showed the improvement in the Impact strength and Hardness of the for 3.5 wt% of Nanoclay.The impact property increased by 24% for Unidirectional laminate and Hardness property was found better for quasi isotropic laminate and increased by 12%.after 3.5 wt%, there seemed to be a decline in both the properties. The enhanced properties were due to Nano Clay’s ability to alter the structural morphology. The 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 on the Glass Epoxy nanocomposites. The overall findings suggest that these nanocomposites could be used in various industrial applications.