Effects of Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles on the Mechanical Strength of Epoxy Hybrid Composite Materials Reinforced with Unidirectional Carbon and Glass Fibers.
Basim A. Abass, Mustafa Baqir Hunain, Jaafar M A Khudair
Abstract
Abstract The present work describes the development of hybrid epoxy composite reinforced with unidirectional carbon, glass fibers and nano-TiO 2 powder in order to study some of its mechanical properties. Titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) were dispersed in epoxy with different weight fractions (1, 3, and 5 wt. %) using sonication. Composite materials under study have been prepared by reinforcing the resulted nanocomposite by three different layers of unidirectional carbon fibers and glass bidirectional fibers using hand lay-up technique. Tensile and hardness tests as well as the surface roughness test have been performed during the experimental work. It has been observed that the tensile strengths of the fiber-reinforced polymer composites increase with fiber content, and TiO 2 nanoparticles up to a maximum value of 3 wt % after which it decreases. The value, modulus of elasticity, tension resistance, and hardness of the fiber-reinforced polymer composites increase with increasing fiber loading. The results obtained in this work show that the addition of TiO 2 nanoparticles at up to 3%wt to the epoxy composite reinforced with unidirectional carbon and glass fibers enhances the mechanical strength of such material.