Three-point bending and impact behaviour of carbon/epoxy composites modified with titanium dioxide nanoparticles

Abstract

Nanofillers can be considered as viable strengthening agent in solid form which can advance the different properties of polymeric materials with minor lessening in the density of composites. Nanofillers are getting model changes the field of material science and polymer based composites. A study on the bending behaviour and impact energy of plain weave bidirectional carbon fabric reinforced epoxy (CE) filled by titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles is presented in this paper. Test coupons as per ASTM standards are prepared by simple hand lay-up stacking followed by hot pressing. Mechanical properties for instance flexural strength, modulus and impact energy absorbed are obtained through three-point bend test and Izod impact test following ASTM D790-17 and ASTM D 256–10 (2018) standards. The results showed that the combination of carbon fabric and nano-TiO2 achieved a significant improvement (around 35%) in impact energy of epoxy material. In terms of mechanical properties, flexural strength increased as the amount of nano-TiO2 increased, up to a critical point. The outcomes showed that very low loading (up to 1 wt%) of TiO2 enhances the CE composites resistance from bowing and impact loads. Overall, the nano-TiO2 is a more cost-effective inorganic filler to effectively improve the flexural properties and impact energy of CE composites. Moreover, the failure mechanism and fractographic features of the three-point bend test failed specimens were examined utilizing the scanning electron microscope.