Open Access

ABSTRACT

Impact Performance of Nanophased Woven Fabric Carbon/Epoxy Composite Laminates

M.V. Hosur¹, F.H. Chowdhury¹, S. Jeelani¹

1 Center for Advanced Materials, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL 36117, USA

The International Conference on Computational & Experimental Engineering and Sciences 2007, 2(4), 119-124. https://doi.org/10.3970/icces.2007.002.119

Abstract

In the present study, Nanomer® I-28E, organically modified montmorillonite nanoclay supplied by Nanocor Inc., was used to modify SC-15, a toughened epoxy system using sonication route. Different weight percentage ranging from 1-3% of nanoclay was used. The modified epoxy was then used to fabricate 15-layer plain weave carbon/epoxy composite laminates using vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) method. Samples of size 100 x 100 mm were cut from the laminates and were subjected to low-velocity impact loading using an instrumented drop-weight system (Dynatup Model 8210) at three different energy levels of 10, 20 and 30J. Transient response of the samples was recorded and analyzed in terms to load-energy versus time relations. Impact damage was characterized by utilizing an ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation system (c-scan). Results of the study indicate that the infusion of nanoclay in the system reduced the impact damage though the impact response in terms of the peak load remained mostly unaltered.

---