A Comparative Study on the Effect of HNT and Nano-Alumina Particles on the Mechanical Properties of Vacuum Bag Moulded Glass-Epoxy Nanocomposites

In the present work, the mechanical properties of the Halloysite nanotube (HNT) and Nano-Alumina particle additions in glass-epoxy nanocomposites are investigated experimentally. The composite specimens for tensile, flexural, interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) and impact tests are prepared by vacuum bag moulding process and tested in accordance with the ASTM standards. HNT/Nano-Alumina particle contents are varied from 0 to 4 wt. %, while the weight fraction of glass fiber is kept constant at 60%. The strength values of the respective tests are obtained and compared graphically to study the effect of nanoparticle type and content on the mechanical properties. From the experimentation and subsequent result analysis, considerable improvements in the mechanical properties are observed with the addition of nanoparticles as compared to neat composites. The 3 wt.% addition of HNT in the nanocomposites resulted in increase in tensile strength, elastic modulus, flexural strength, flexural modulus, ILSS and impact energy values by 12.7%, 6.96%, 5.46%, 4.49%, 7.44% and 119.3% respectively in comparison with the same weight percentage of Nano-Alumina. HNT modified composites reveal an improvement in mechanical properties, hence qualifying it as a most promising cost-effective reinforcing filler for glass-epoxy composites. Further, the SEM micrographs of fractured surfaces are analyzed to study the failure mechanisms and fracture morphologies of higher loaded composites (4 wt.%) and understand the reason for decline in mechanical properties.