The Influence of Nanofillers on the Mechanical Properties of Carbon Fibre Reinforced Methyl Methacrylate Composite

Abstract

The influence of different types of nanofillers – carbon nanotubes (CNT) and organically modified nanoclay – on the flexural properties and nail penetration resistance of carbon fiber reinforced methyl methacrylate (MMA) composite have been investigated. An ultrasonic mixing was used to distribute various content of nanofillers (0.7 wt.% – 3.0 wt.%) in MMA resin. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analyses confirmed formation of intercalated MMA clay nanocomposites. Two different stacking sequences, [0/90]3 or [0/90/45]2, and two types of carbon fibre, with or without epoxy binder, were used for composites preparation. The composites with stacking sequence of [0/90]3 show higher resistance to the mechanical loading. Epoxy binder increases fibre adhesion interaction with MMA resin, however, almost does not influences on the fibre reinforced composite strength properties. The results demonstrated that only low content (up to 1 wt.%) of organically modified nanoclay Cloisite 10A increases the carbon fibre reinforced composites resistance to flexure and nail penetration. The low content of CNT also increases flexural stress and modulus, but decreases resistance to the nail penetration.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.18.3.2434