Mechanical, wear, and drop load impact behavior of glass/Caryota urens hybridized fiber-reinforced nanoclay/SiC toughened epoxy multihybrid composite

High toughness epoxy resin hybrid composites were prepared using nanoclay, SiC, and glass-caryota intra ply fibers. The main aim of this research was to study the effect of adding Caryota urens natural fiber from biomass as a potential fiber along with synthetic glass fiber in load-bearing and wear properties of nanoclay and silicon carbide (SiC) particle toughened epoxy composite. The intra-ply glass-caryota fiber, silicon carbide, and nanoclay were surface-treated using 3-Aminopropyltrimethoxysilane. The composites were prepared using the hand lay-up method. The tensile result shows that the addition of 1 vol% of the silicon carbide particle along with nanoclay in intra-ply glass-caryota fiber-reinforced epoxy composite gives improved results than other composite designations. The wear properties show that the addition of silicon carbide of 1.0 vol% gives a lower specific wear rate of 0.024 mm(3)/Nm. Similarly, the composite, which contains 1.0 vol% of silicon carbide and nanoclay gives higher penetration resistance and energy absorption. In all properties, the addition of silicon carbide modifies the values significantly. This high toughness intra-ply glass-caryota fiber-reinforced silicon carbide/nanoclay toughened epoxy resin composite could be used in automotive, sports components, domestic appliances, and structural body applications.

Automated summary

This study aimed to improve the performance of epoxy resin composite materials by adding different amounts of silicon carbide and nanoclay. The addition of 1.0% silicon carbide resulted in enhanced tensile properties, reduced wear rate, increased penetration resistance, and energy absorption of the composite.