The Influence of Alumina Nanoparticles on the Mechanical Characteristics of Hybrid Fiberreinforced Epoxy

Abstract

The present work offers an experimental investigation on the effect of adding alumina nanoparticles (AL₂O₃) on the mechanical characteristics of the epoxy resin strengthened by hybrid fibers. Nanocomposite material was created for this purpose by combining AL₂O₃ nanoparticles with epoxy using mechanical stirring. AL₂O₃nanoparticles were added to the epoxy at various loading ratios (1, 2, 3, and 4 wt%). Three layers of carbon fibers and woven E-glass fiber were added to the produced hybrid nanocomposite to create several kinds of hybrid nanocomposite materials. The hand lay-up method was then used to produce the laminated hybrid nanocomposite materials. Flexural and impact test specimens were made in accordance with ASTM D790 and ISO 179 2010. The tests have been replicated three times for each type of specimen and considered the mean value. The results showed an enhancement in the flexural and impactcharacteristic of thenanocompositesamples by adding (AL₂O₃). Based on the results, nanocomposite samples filled with (2 wt%) (AL₂O₃) has the highest flexural and impact properties. However, the flexural and impact properties gradually decrease as more alumina nanoparticles are added. The hybrid composites material with different stacking sequences has been filled with (2 wt%) of (AL₂O₃), resulting in improved flexural and impact properties. The result also shows that the flexural and impact strengthwere increased with the increase of volume fraction of E-glass fibers and decrease with the increase of carbon fiber volume fraction.