Effect of salty water aging on mechanical and fracture performance of halloysite nanotube-epoxy/basalt fiber nanocomposites

Fiber reinforced epoxy matrix composites have been widely utilized in the different industry, however, the environmental factors such as water and stress can cause its untimely failure of composite structures by matrix cracking, plasticization and delamination. Matrix modification of polymer composites with nanoreinforcements is an effective way to enhance its matrix-dominated properties. This thesis study aimed to examine experimentally mechanical performance and salty water aging of basalt fiber (BF) reinforced halloysite nanotube (HNT) / epoxy nanocomposites. For this, different amounts of HNT nano-reinforcements were added into the epoxy (Ep) matrix, and the effective amount of HNT was determined by mechanical tests. After, modified epoxy was used as matrix materials in basalt fiber reinforced laminated composites' production via utilizing vacuum assisted resin infusion method (VARIM). The prepared composites were subjected to tensile, flexural, single edge notched bending, mod-I interlaminar fracture toughness tests and interlaminar shear strength test. The tests showed that the HNTs (percentage by weight 2%) adding was increased of mechanical performance of epoxy. Furthermore, it is revealed that the HNTs modified nanocomposites exhibited remarkably improved aging performance compared to the neat for 6 months in salty water. The SEM investigations performed to reveal failure mechanisms and micro-scale degradation mechanisms due to seawater aging of the specimens. The chemical interactions between seawater and epoxy were examined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.