Evaluation of mechanical properties of nano filled glass fiber reinforced composites

Abstract

Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites plays an important role in many industries; because weight to strength ratio is extremely high when compared to monolithic metals. One of the main limitations of FRP composites are the low mechanical properties due to the presence of polymer associated with it. To solve this problem, material engineers are investigating the use of different nanoparticles mixed in different polymers to improve mechanical properties of the polymer. In the present investigation nano Copper Oxide (CuO) materials dispersed in polystyrene resin using ultrasonic bath sonicator are used as matrix face for glass fiber reinforced plastics which is manufactured by hand layup processes. As per ASTM standards tensile and compression test are carried out in universal testing machine. Microstructure of samples has been investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Hence the dispersion of reinforcement was noted. A Linear regression model has been developed to predict mechanical properties of nano filled GFRP composites The results indicated that the predicted values through the developed model are well agreement with the experimental results and with increase in weight % of nano CuO improves the the mechanical properties.