An Investigation On ILSS Properties of Unidirectional Glass Fibre / Alumina Nanoparticles Filled Epoxy Nanocomposite At Different Angles Of Fibre Orientations

Abstract

Interlaminar shear properties of the fibre reinforced polymer composites are very important in many structured applications. Interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) of a unidirectional fibre reinforced polymer composite laminate is usually a limiting design characteristic. And also it has been reported that, the interlaminar shear strength of fibre reinforced polymer composites may be improved by the modification of the matrix. In this paper, diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) / triethylene tetramine (TETA) system is used as the epoxy matrix. Alumina nanoparticles are employed to modify the epoxy matrix at various concentrations. Unmodified and modified epoxy resins are used along with unidirectional glass fibres for fabricating composite laminates by vacuum bagging process. The interlaminar shear strength of the glass fibre reinforced composites at different orientation of the laminate is investigated and the results indicate that introduction of the alumina nanoparticles up to 0.8 wt%, enhances the ILSS in all the direction of fibres, while addition up to 1.2 wt% decreases the ILSS. Also, the percentage of enhancement in the ILSS is found to be altered in different direction of fibre orientation. In particular, the addition of 0.8 wt% alumina nanoparticles leads to the 2.07%, 8.71% and 18.02% increase in the ILSS for the composite in the direction of 0^o, 45^o and 90^o fibre orientation respectively. These phenomena are explained in terms of agglomeration of nanoparticles and dominant properties of fibres and matrix in different angles of fibre orientations.