Improvement of vibration damping and flexural fatigue property incorporating nanoclay into glass/epoxy composite

Abstract

This study demonstrates that nanoclay fillers can improve vibration damping property and fatigue behavior of conventional long fiber reinforced composites. Nanoclay was dispersed in epoxy resin by a solvent-free high-speed mixing method using a high speed homogenizer. This modified resin was used to manufacture S-glass/epoxy composite laminates by hand lay-up and autoclave curing. The dynamic properties of the samples were tested using a dynamic mechanical analyzer DMA 983. A maximum of 11.1% improvement in the flexural storage modulus and 16.9% in the loss modulus were achieved for adding up to 2 wt.% nanoclay. To see the damping effect of nanoclay at higher frequency and amplitude, a log decrement test was carried out where a maximum of 55.5% increase in damping ratio was observed. The effect of damping improvement on fatigue life was also investigated. A fixed amplitude flexural fatigue test was performed using an MTS machine. Maximum of 66% and 133% improvement in flexural fatigue life at respectively 1 and 2 wt.% nanoclay incorporation were achieved. Nanoclay increases the fracture resistance significantly which was characterized by optical microscope.