Buckling characteristics of nano-silica doped carbon fiber reinforced composites having cutouts

Abstract

The current study presents an experimental investigation devoted to the nano-silica and cutout effects on the axial and lateral buckling responses of carbon/epoxy fiber-reinforced composite laminates. To this end, specimens manufactured by vacuum bagging after hand layup technique were prepared at various amounts of nano-silica (0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0%, and 3.0% by weight) incorporated into epoxy resin. Furthermore, semi-circular and circular cutouts were opened on specimens to understand cutout effect on buckling characteristics of specimens. The results demonstrated that nano-silica had a significant effect on buckling behaviors of the carbon fiber-reinforced composites. Regardless of cutout presences, maximum critical axial (393.33 N, 361.67 N, 320 N for W, C and S) and lateral buckling loads (34.67 N, 33 N, 32.33 N for W, C and S), were achieved from the samples having 1.5 wt. % nano-silica. In specimens having no cutout, maximum improvements of 72.26% in axial and 48.6% in lateral directions were achieved from the specimens having 1.5 wt. % nano-silica content. A further amount of nano-silica addition decreased the resistance to buckling of the specimens. Also, the presence of cutouts on the specimens led to decreases in critical loads. The decreases of 1.5 wt. % nano-silica doped specimens without cutout in the axial and lateral critical buckling loads, respectively, were seen as 22.9% and 7.24% for circular cutout, 8.75% and 5.06% for semi-circular cutout. It was concluded that cutout processing and nano-silica additions should be taken into consideration in a material that may be exposed the buckling failures. Highlights: Nano-silica impact on buckling behaviors of carbon fiber-reinforced composites Cutout effects on buckling properties of carbon fiber-reinforced composites Failure modes of carbon fiber-reinforced composites with nano-silica particles Findings showed that 1.5 wt. % nano-silica inclusion exhibited the best values for buckling.