Fatigue behaviour of a hybrid particle modified fiberglass/epoxy composite under a helicopter spectrum load sequence

Abstract

The fatigue life of a glass fibre reinforced plastic (GFRP) hybrid composite containing 9 wt.% of rubber microparticles and 10 wt.% of silica nanoparticles, under a standard helicopter rotor spectrum load sequence was determined and observed to be about three times higher than that of GFRP with unmodified epoxy matrix. The underlying mechanisms for the observed improvements in spectrum fatigue life of GFRP composite with the hybrid matrix are discussed.