Development and characterization of high performance carbon fiber/epoxy nanocomposites reinforced with silane modified nanocalcite (CaCO3) particles for the aviation and space industry

In this thesis, nano-CaCO3 particles were modified with (3-Glycidyloxypropyl) trimethoxysilane (3-GPTMS) to improve mechanical, thermal performance and dimensional stability of carbon fiber/epoxy composites. Silane-modified nano-CaCO3 (wrt. epoxy. 1, 3, 5 wt.) reinforced carbon fiber/epoxy nanocomposite systems (KF-EP-MC) were manufactured by VARTM process. Tensile, three-point bending, compression, short-beam shear, Mode-I (DCB) and Mode-II fracture toughness (ENF) and Charpy impact tests were carried out on the prepared composite specimens. It was shown that the silane-modified nano-CaCO3 particles with a loading ratio of 5 wt. % could improve the Mode-I and Mode-II fracture toughness of the control group CF/EP composites by about 18.5% ve 26.8 %, respectively. It was also shown that the silane-modified nano-CaCO3 particles with a loading ratio of 3 wt. % could improve the Charpy impact strength by about 22%. The optimum amount of silane-modified nano-CaCO3 particles inside the epoxy resin was determined as 5 wt. % for the highest improvement in the flexural properties. The flexural modulus and strength values increased by about 16.8% ve 13.6%, respectively. The incorporation of 5 wt. %s silane modified nanocalcite particles into carbon fiber/epoxy composites led to significant increase in compressive modulus and compressive strength values by about %62.3 ve %33.5, respectively. The ILSS was found to be 20% higher than that of the reference composites. The storage modulus and the tandelta values of the composites were increased by about 15.3 % ve 36.6%, respectively, with the integration of 5% wt. silane modified nano-CaCO3 particles. The nano-CaCO3 had no significant effect on the glass transition temperature of the composites.