EFFECT OF NANO-KAOLINITE WEIGHT FRACTION ON INTERFACIAL SHEAR STRENGTH OF FIBRE REINFORCED NANOCOMPOSITE
Hisham Mohammed Ali Hasan, Bahaa Aldin Abass Hasan
Quarterly No. 1, 2022 pages 16-20
DOI:
keywords: epoxy, nano-kaolinite, Kevlar fibre, polypropylene fibre, drag-out test, interfacial shear strength
abstract Many studies around the world focus on the use of organic and inorganic additions to polymer composites to enhance their mechanical properties. Investigations were conducted to study the mechanical properties of composites with nano-kaolinite weight fractions of 1, 3, 5, 7, and 12% incorporated into an epoxy matrix. Further investigations were carried out on the diffusion of the epoxy nano-kaolinite monomer into the interfibrillar space when polypropylene and Kevlar rope fibre were added. The Kevlar fibre/matrix and polypropylene fibre/matrix interfacial shear strength was evaluated by the single fibre drag-out method. The highest interfacial shear strength was observed at a 5 wt.% nano-kaolinite content. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), as well as characterisation by X-ray diffraction (XRD), were performed on all the epoxy/nano-kaolinite, Kevlar specimens.