Tensile and flexural behavior of nanoclay filled epoxy matrix based fiber reinforced composite laminates

In this study, the effect of nanoclay filler on tensile and flexural behavior of epoxy matrix based glass fiber reinforced composite laminates [G12] and aramid/glass hybrid fiber reinforced composite laminates were investigated. The composite laminates with different nanoclay contents (0.5 wt.%, 1 wt.%, 2 wt.%, 3 wt.% and 5 wt.%) were fabricated using hand lay-up followed by hot press. The nano-structured hybrid fiber reinforced composite laminates were prepared with a variety of stacking configurations ([K1G4]S ,[K2G3]S ,[K3G2]S and [K4G1]S). The tensile and flexural tests were conducted by following ASTM 3039 and D638-10 for uniaxial tensile and ASTM D790-10 for three-point bending. The results showed that the increase in tensile strength for composites [G12] with nanoclay is 8%, 4% and 1% for 1 wt.%, 2 wt.% and 3 wt.% nanoclay filled epoxy based glass fiber reinforced composites, respectively. The reductions from 327 MPa to 280 MPa and 15 GPa to 13 GPa were determined for both flexural strength and modulus, respectively. It was shown that the enhancement in tensile strength is more significant at lower nanoclay contents and the highest tensile strength was determined for 1 wt.% clay content. The maximum tensile strength of hybrid composites was obtained for the configuration [K1G4]S using 2 wt.% of nanoclay and the maximum flexural strength was observed for 1 wt.% nanoclay inclusion.