Thermo-mechanical analysis of seawater-conditioned carbon/polymer composites reinforced with nanoclay/graphene nanoparticles

Abstract

Increasing demand for the structural materials having high strength, lightweight, corrosion, and environmental resistance is the major reason to consider fiber-reinforced polymer composite (FRPC) materials instead of traditional materials. Synthetic nanoparticle-reinforced FRPC materials have proved to deliver superior performance in many high-end applications. In this study, carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy composites modified with montmorillonite nanoclay (MMT) and graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) were investigated. The prepared samples were subjected to seawater conditioning to exhibit the effect of environmental conditions on the properties of FRPC materials. Frequency sweep dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) testing was performed in order to characterize the FRPC materials. The results indicated that dynamic mechanical properties of FRPCs were improved by incorporation of nanoparticles. MMT- and GNP-containing samples showed improvement of around 13% in glass transition temperature in the temperature sweep DMA test. Binary MMT/GNP-containing samples showed 10% improvement in glass transition temperature compared to unmodified carbon samples. Frequency sweep DMA test revealed the frequency-dependent properties of FRPCs. With increasing frequency, the storage modulus increased as the material had less time to respond to the applied load. However, at the same frequency, nanophased FRPCs showed higher modulus compared to baseline unmodified samples. Increasing demand for the structural materials having high strength, lightweight, corrosion, and environmental resistance is the major reason to consider fiber-reinforced polymer composite (FRPC) materials instead of traditional materials. Synthetic nanoparticle-reinforced FRPC materials have proved to deliver superior performance in many high-end applications. In this study, carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy composites modified with montmorillonite nanoclay (MMT) and graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) were investigated. The prepared samples were subjected to seawater conditioning to exhibit the effect of environmental conditions on the properties of FRPC materials. Frequency sweep dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) testing was performed in order to characterize the FRPC materials. The results indicated that dynamic mechanical properties of FRPCs were improved by incorporation of nanoparticles. MMT- and GNP-containing samples showed improvement of around 13% in glass transition temperature in the temperature sweep DMA test. Binary MMT/GNP-containing samples showed 10% improvement in glass transition temperature compared to unmodified carbon samples. Frequency sweep DMA test revealed the frequency-dependent properties of FRPCs. With increasing frequency, the storage modulus increased as the material had less time to respond to the applied load. However, at the same frequency, nanophased FRPCs showed higher modulus compared to baseline unmodified samples.