Investigation of the effects of nanoparticles on adhesion properties of single strap repair in composites

Composite materials have been thoroughly using in engineering application areas such as electronics, aerospace, automotive. Due to the production of new fibers such as carbon, boron, and aramids, and new composite structures of matrices made of metals and ceramics since the 1970s, the use of composites has been growing thoroughly. In engineering applications areas, adhesively bonded repairs are expanding mechanical repair alternatives and various nano materials are added to increase the strength of the bonding surface of adhesive bonded repairs. In this thesis, the effects of tensile features of epoxy adhesive with nanomaterials (nano-silica, nano-graphene, and nano-clay) on the glass epoxy composite laminates adhesively bonded single strap repairs are investigated. Nano-silica, nanographene, and nano-clay particles were added to the epoxy resin with an amount of (1, 2, 3, 5, and 10 wt. %), (0.05, 0.1, 1, 3, and 5 wt. %), and (1,2,3,4, and 5 wt. %) respectively. Single strap repairs were used as different patch ratio (D/d=2, and D/d= 3). 10 mm diameter patch holes were opened by a CNC machine. The samples were subjected to tensile testing and their load carrying capability was measured. Experimental results showed that a 3 wt. % ratio of nano-clay particles have the best tensile force values of all nanoparticles in the epoxy resin. Keywords: Adhesively Bonded, Nano-silica, Nano-graphene, Nano-clay, Single- strap Repairs, Tensile Test