The Effects of Increasing Polypropylene Fibers and NAno Silica of Mechanical Properties of Epoxy Composites

One of the most important aims in composite industry is to improve the properties of composite materials. In this research the effects of adding polypropylene Fiber and also the nano silica particles to epoxy resin using hand lay-up technique have been studied. It was found that increasing the polypropylene fiber with lower amount of glass fiber with increasing amount of nano silica up the 0.4 phr improved the impact properties of composites, but these properties showed a decreasing trend when adding over 0.4 phr nano silica. However, the same trend was observed when tensile strength and tensile modulus were determined: In case of bending tests, increasing the amount of polypropylene fiber increased the bending strength and modulus. But by adding nano silica particles a reverse effect was observed.