Modifying the crack growth in a glass fiber reinforced epoxy by adding polyamide 6 nanofibers

Recently, several types of nanoparticles are frequently incorporated in reinforced epoxy resin composites. Since it is difficult to obtain a homogeneous dispersion of these nanoparticles, the mechanical improvement of the composites is very moderate. Thermoplastic nanofibrous structures can overcome this issue. Therefore, this paper investigated the effect of electrospun polyamide 6 nanofibrous structures on the mechanical properties of a glass fiber/epoxy composite. The nanofibers are incorporated in the glass fiber/epoxy composite as stand-alone interlayered structures and directly spun on the glass fiber reinforcement. Both incorporation procedures have no negative effect on the impregnation of the epoxy. Incorporation of nanofibers increases the stress at failure in the 0°-direction, the best results are obtained when the nanofibers are directly electrospun on the glass fibers. Optical microscopic images also demonstrate that nanofibers prevent delamination when a 90° crack reaches a neighbourly 0° ply. When the composites are loaded under 45°, it is proven that for an identical stress, the glass fiber composite with deposited nanofibers has less cracks than when interlayered nanofibrous structures are incorporated.

Jaar van publicatie:2013