The tensile fatigue behaviour of a silica nanoparticle-modified glass fibre reinforced epoxy composite
File(s)CST-ver-02 ACT.pdf (289.38 KB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Manjunatha, CM
Taylor, AC
Kinloch, AJ
Sprenger, S
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
An anhydride-cured thermosetting epoxy polymer was modified by incorporating 10 wt.% of well-dispersed silica nanoparticles. The stress-controlled tensile fatigue behaviour at a stress ratio of R = 0.1 was investigated for bulk specimens of the neat and the nanoparticle-modified epoxy. The addition of the silica nanoparticles increased the fatigue life by about three to four times. The neat and the nanoparticle-modified epoxy resins were used to fabricate glass fibre reinforced plastic (GFRP) composite laminates by resin infusion under flexible tooling (RIFT) technique. Tensile fatigue tests were performed on these composites, during which the matrix cracking and stiffness degradation was monitored. The fatigue life of the GFRP composite was increased by about three to four times due to the silica nanoparticles. Suppressed matrix cracking and reduced crack propagation rate in the nanoparticle-modified matrix were observed to contribute towards the enhanced fatigue life of the GFRP composite employing silica nanoparticle-modified epoxy matrix.
Date Issued
2009-10-21
Date Acceptance
2009-10-16
Citation
Composites Science and Technology, 2009, 70 (1), pp.193-199
ISSN
0266-3538
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
193
End Page
199
Journal / Book Title
Composites Science and Technology
Volume
70
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2009, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Subjects
Science & Technology
Technology
Materials Science, Composites
Materials Science
MATERIALS SCIENCE, COMPOSITES
Nano composites
Polymer matrix composites (PMCs)
Fatigue
Matrix cracking
STIFFNESS DEGRADATION
MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES
NANOCOMPOSITES
FRACTURE
TOUGHNESS
POLYMERS
PROPERTY
MATRICES
DAMAGE
Publication Status
Published