Abstract
The incorporation of inorganic nanoparticles with thermosetting epoxy polymer is an emerging field of research over the past few years. It is well analyzed that epoxy matrix is brittle in nature that shows rapid crack initiation and rapid propagation without increasing applied stress value. Therefore, researchers are showing their interest in nanoparticles embedded epoxy composites to improve their fracture resistance (brittleness and toughness). In this investigation, the dispersion of TiO2 nanoparticles at different weight fractions (0-2 %) with glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites is performed to enhance structural and thermo-mechanical properties. The TiO2 nanoparticles are prepared by sol-gel method and structural analysis of TiO2 nanoparticles shows greater interfacial bond with epoxy matrix and glass fibers due to fine dispersion of nanoparticles. From obtained results, a significant enhancement in their tensile strength (38.56 %), flexural strength (30.52 %), inter-laminar shear stress (25.22 %), impact strength (327.10 %), micro-hardness (48.53 %) and fracture energy (40.19 %) with a minimal detrimental effect on toughness was revealed for GFRP-T1.0 compare to GFRP-T0.0 composite laminates. The stiffness and rigidity also improved up to 52.72 % and 34.13 % respectively for GFRP-T1.5 compare to GFRP-T0.0 composite laminates. The effects of nanoparticles contents and clustering size on thermal stability and glass transition temperature of developed composites are observed by thermo-gravimetric analysis. The surface morphology of TiO2 nanoparticles is characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM) while the dispersion of nanoparticles and failure of developed composites were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
Highlights
The advance composite materials made from continues fiber polymer matrix composite laminates with different orientation and arrangements comprise a successful structural materials due to their less density, better specific strength and stiffness, lower thermal coefficient, high fatigue and damping resistance for various industrial application like construction, aerospace, marine, automobile and biomedical [1]
The structural analysis of prepared TiO2 nanoparticles is characterized by performing X-Ray diffraction machine (XRD), Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR), transmission electron microscope (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA)
The results examined that, dispersion of TiO2 nanoparticles in epoxy matrix are properly mixed with less than one % of voids that, results superior interfacial bond with glass fiber reinforcements
Summary
The advance composite materials made from continues fiber polymer matrix composite laminates with different orientation and arrangements comprise a successful structural materials due to their less density, better specific strength and stiffness, lower thermal coefficient, high fatigue and damping resistance for various industrial application like construction, aerospace, marine, automobile and biomedical [1]. These nanoparticles have been agglomerated and incompatibility with polymer matrix due to large surface area to volume ratio that results improper bonding and reduce their respective properties [8, 24] Hybridization of these nanoparticles with different fiber reinforced materials was identified as potential solution that enhanced their compatibility and increases the durability of the materials where a low amount of homogeneous dispersion of nanoparticles with GFRP composites demonstrated higher mechanical, thermal, and fracture properties as well as improved their glass transition temperature (Tg) and maximum decomposition temperature [22, 25, 26]
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