Hybrid Short Glass Fibre Composites Reinforced with Silica Micro-particles

Abstract

This work investigates epoxy composites reinforced by randomly oriented, short glass fibres and silica microparticles. A full-factorial experiment evaluates the effects of glass fibre mass fraction (15 and 20 wt%) and length (5 and 10 mm), and the mass fraction of silica microparticles (5 and 10 wt%) on the apparent density and porosity, as well as the compressive and tensile strength and modulus of the hybrid composites. Hybrid epoxy composites present significantly higher tensile strength (9%) and modulus (57%), as well as compressive strength (up to 15%) relative to pure epoxy.