The effects of nanosilica on charpy impact behavior of glass/epoxy fiber reinforced composite laminates

Abstract

Desire to improve the efficiency of composite materials for engineering applications has led to the use of nano-sized additives or fillers such as nanoclay, nanosilica, nano-graphene, carbon nanotubes. The effect of nanoparticle inclusion on mechanical properties of fiber reinforced composite materials has been investigated by many researchers and crucial effects have been reported in several papers. In this work, the effects of nanosilica content on the low velocity impact behaviors of glass/epoxy fiber reinforced composite laminates are determined using Charpy impact tests. The composite laminates are fabricated via hand lay-up followed by hot press molding. The nanosilica particles with different weight percentages are dispersed in epoxy resins using mechanical stirring. The absorbed impact energy values of flatwise-unnotched and edgewise-notched beam specimens, and impact damages are analyzed as a measure of impact behavior. The results show that the incorporation of nanosilica particles have significant effects on the Charpy impact behavior.