Mode-I interlaminar fracture toughness enhancement of the glass/epoxy composite by incorporating nano-fillers

Abstract

Mode-I interlaminar fracture toughness in FRP composites is the resistance of the plies or group of plies against delamination under tensile loading condition. This can be characterized by double cantilever beam approach. The composites have striking mechanical properties in the in-plane direction, but they are weaker in the transverse direction. Also, the commonly used matrix, i.e., the epoxy resin, which intervenes the reinforcing plies, is brittle. Due to these limitations, the application of composites is restricted is still unexplored in some of the areas. By mixing different nano-fillers as MWCNT, MLG, and their hybrid combination in the matrix, it gets toughened and the interlaminar fracture response of the composites is improved by 25.66 %, 15.25 %, and 19.157 % of the control sample. Also, fractography of the delaminated samples was done using environmental scanning electron microscopy to feature different toughening mechanisms.