Effect of nano reinforcement on discrete and continuum damage mechanisms in laminated composites

Abstract

The transverse cracking behavior was investigated experimentally for two systems of glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites: with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and without CNTs. An experimental campaign which involves 4 and 8 layers cross-ply [90/0]ns laminates were conducted in this study. A manufacturing process using vacuum infusion technique followed by hot pressing techniques was used to produce glass fibre-reinforced laminates with the epoxy matrix and with the CNT based epoxy matrix. The cure condition was 80°C for 15 hours followed by a post cure of 180°C for 6 hrs. The identification is carried out for basic tests like monotonic tensile test on cross-ply [90/0] ns laminates. Experimental results indicates that the presence of CNTs suppress the matrix cracking of the specimen. This article has also been reported the effect of CNTs in laminates through thermo-mechanical studies.