Investigation of physico-mechanical properties of glass fiber reinforced polyester matrix composite materials with modified nanoclays under different environmental conditions

Glass fiber reinforced thermoset matrix composites are currently used in the production of industrial products in industries such as aviation, space, construction, automotive, marine, storage systems. Especially in industries such as maritime and storage systems, polymer-based composite materials are needed to meet the demands of companies such as reducing production costs, developing materials with less negative impact on the environment and working with materials suitable for recycling, technologies that increase energy efficiency during production and at the same time developing products with more functional features. However, composite materials used in areas such as marine and water storage systems are exposed to various mechanical and corrosive environments. This situation, despite the superior performance of glass fiber reinforced plastics, they undergo significant degradation when exposed to aqueous and chemical environments, resulting in significant losses in mechanical performance and durability. This situation reveals the need to support composite materials with different materials. Recently, with the developments in the field of nanotechnology, studies on improving the performance of plastic matrix composites with the addition of very low amounts of nano-powder materials have come to the fore. Because nano clay, in addition to its high mechanical, thermal and physical properties, its physical structure with high aspect ratio offers a unique opportunity to obtain high barrier properties against the diffusion of gas and liquid materials through the formation of winding paths in nanocomposites to be produced. Homogeneous distribution of nanoclays in the composite structure and coating with a thin hydrophobic layer to further improve the physical properties of nanoclays provides improved properties compared to the addition of nanoclay alone. In this thesis, the effect of modified nanoclay on the physico-mechanical properties of these materials under different environmental conditions was investigated. In the study, the amount of glass fiber reinforcement and polyester matrix was kept constant and the effect of nano clay and modified nano clay on the physico-mechanical properties of the composite under environmental conditions such as salt water, pure water and air environment was determined. As a result, although an increase in mechanical properties was observed with glass fiber fabric reinforcement, a decrease in physico-mechanical properties due to nanoclay agglomeration was observed depending on the amount of nanoclay addition and modification process.