Abstract
Glass fiber-reinforced plastic composites (GFRPs) are often suffered to impact loadings; it is essential to improve its damage-resistant properties and understand the energy absorption mechanisms. In this work, the low-velocity impact behaviors of GFRPs were investigated in consideration of epoxy resins modified with 0, 0.4, and 0.75 % multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) by weight content and pre-stretched fabric at 0, 1.27, and 2.47 kg weight. In comparison with pure GFRPs sample, MWCNT-modified specimens are effective in improving the impact resistance under impact energies at 9, 16, and 22 J in terms of reduced damage factor and enhanced perforation threshold. Microscopic fractographic analysis indicated that the incorporation of MWCNTs in epoxy matrix offered additional mechanisms through breakage, bridging, and pull-out of carbon nanotubes to favor load transfer effect, prevent crack propagation, and thus dissipate more energy. The dynamic thermo-mechanical analysis proved that MWCNTs improved the storage modulus and glass transition temperature of the composites. In addition, the pre-stretched GFRP composites showed more impact resistant than the non-stretched ones through instant load transfer effect.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 5978-5992 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Journal of Materials Science |
Volume | 50 |
Issue number | 18 |
Early online date | 12 Jun 2015 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Sept 2015 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
We would like to thank Dr. Gowthaman Swaminathan, Dr. He Zhang, and Bin Yu for their constructive suggestions and supports. We thank Dr. Xiuzhi Tang and Dr. Wanshuang Liu for their kind help with the measurement of the fiber volume fraction and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), respectively.Funding
The authors wish to acknowledge the DRTech-DIRP grant that supported this research.
Keywords
- Contact Force
- Storage Modulus
- Impact Energy
- GFRP
- Damage Factor