Abstract

In a few decades, a lot of research have been done to show the effect of nanoparticles in fiber polymer matrix composites. An investigation has been carried out to study the effect of clay addition on Mode II interlaminar fracture toughness and flexural fatigue behavior of glass/epoxy composites. Nanoclay was dispersed in epoxy resin by a high speed homogenizer. Then, hand lay-up and autoclave curing were used to fabricate S-glass/epoxy/nanoclay laminates. Three point end notch flexural specimens were used to determine the interlaminar fracture toughness and flexural fatigue behavior. This study shows that the addition of 2wt% nanoclay into resin improves the Mode II strain energy release rate (GIIc) by 24% and 23% for non-precracked (NPC) and precracked (PC) tests respectively. Fatigue was done in displacement control mode. The results indicated that the crack initiated earlier for regular samples than the modified ones. First, the rate of crack propagation was fast then, it became slow until achieved to the stable condition. At 2wt% nanoclay, 59% and 5% reduction were obtained in the crack growth rate at two regions where the rate of crack propagation changes. SEM indicated the fracture surface of samples after the crack stopped growing. These images were illustrated that fatigue resistance of specimens with nanoclay were enhanced.