The effect of nanoclay and carbon nanotubes addition on fracture toughness properties of chopped kenaf fibres reinforced composites

Abstract

In this study, the chopped kenaf fibres composites were incorporated with 1wt%, 3wt% and 5wt% of nanoclay and 0.5wt%, 1.0wt% and 1.5wt% of carbon nanotubes (CNT). The composites samples were fabricated using a combination of three roll milling and hand lay-up processes. The fracture toughness test was conducted according to ASTM D5045. The addition of the nanoclay and CNT significantly enhanced the fracture toughness properties as well as critical stress intensity (KIC) and critical strain energy (GIC) of the composites. In particularly, the results show that chopped kenaf fibres composites incorporated with 1wt% of nanoclay (1NCKF) and 0.5 wt% of CNT (0.5CNTKF) exhibited the highest fracture toughness properties of about 50% and 19%, respectively as compared to pure chopped kenaf fibres. However, it was found that the addition of CNT more than 0.5wt% (1CNTKF and 1.5CNTKF) decreased the (KIC) and (GIC) properties as compared to pure kenaf composites.